When Tabraiz Shamsi compelled Suryakumar Yadav to hit one straight to long off in the second T20I between India and South Africa in Gqeherba earlier this month, the left-arm spinner rightfully celebrated it as a match-winning moment. The removal of India’s stand-in captain in the 14th over ultimately played a decisive role as the hosts emerged victorious. However, the 33-year-old has now acknowledged that the celebrations resulted in him facing online abuse after the match.

“People took it in a negative way; they thought it was disrespectful,” Shamsi told Cricbuzz. “I had so much abuse hurled at me. It was probably the worst it’s ever been. There was also abuse hurled at my wife. I didn’t appreciate that. It’s uncalled for. It’s fine if you want to have a dig at the players, but to involve family and say nasty things, that pushes it to another level.”

A day after the match, Shamsi posted a strongly-worded statement on his social media. “It’s just a fun celebration which a lot of kids enjoy and means no disrespect towards the batter… I’ve mentioned that countless times before. All you guys hurling abuse are just giving other genuine cricket-loving fans from your country a bad name… cheers,” he wrote. However, this only led to more hateful comments being directed at the South Africa international. In the aftermath of the incident, Shamsi believes that more players should take a stand against online abusers.

“I feel that if players don’t say anything about it, then people think they have free license. More people need to speak up and say it’s not OK. Yes, we’re all trying our best. Yes, your team might not win or you might not agree with certain things. But you need to behave like a human being. You can’t carry on like an animal,” he expressed.

The Proteas spinner is known for speaking his mind on social media. Before the Boxing Day Test in Australia, he voiced his support for Usman Khawaja, who was denied the right to wear shoes with the messages ‘Freedom is a human right’ and ‘All lives are equal’. “I would like the ICC to explain what exactly has Usman Khawaja done wrong?? Why the double standards??” Shamsi wrote on his X account, tagging cricket’s world governing body in his tweet.

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