'Donate your atta too': Pakistan's Muhammad Rizwan gets trolled for dedicating WC Hyderabad win to 'brothers and sisters in Gaza'

Pakistan cricketer Muhammad Rizwan is getting trolled for dedicating the Men in Green's record win against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad to the "brothers and sisters in Gaza', which is controlled by Hamas that carried out the deadliest attack in Israel last Saturday. While chasing a target of 345 by the Sri Lankan team, Rizwan, with Abdullah Shafique who made a century, on Tuesday played a 131-run knock to steer Pakistan to seal the second win in the World Cup 2023.

"This was for our brothers and sisters in Gaza," he said in a tweet on Wednesday, a day after the win. "Happy to contribute to the win. Credits to the whole team and especially Abdullah Shafique and Hassan Ali for making it easier. Extremely grateful to the people of Hyderabad for the amazing hospitality and support throughout."

Rizwan's support for the Gazans while no words for the crime against Israelis by Hamas shocked a section of netizens, for whom it was clear that the cricketer was backing Hamas. Reacting sharply to Rizwan's tweet, a blogger said that the Pakistan Cricket Team should be sent back to Pakistan. "ICC should not allow Cricket World Cup to become a tool for supporting Hamas Terrorists."

Nageswara, another social media user, said that Rizwan is, at present, in a country that "vehemently opposes this barbarism". As long as he is here, he is bound to respect the sentiments of this land, the user said referring to India's official stand which was clearly stated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who called Hamas a terrorist organisation and said New Delhi stood in solidarity with Israel. "Dear BCCI, why not our players be allowed to wear black bands in solidarity with Israel, during Ind vs Pak match???"

Rudra said that Rizwan was literally standing up for terrorists for global ummah (community of Muslims) and Islamic brotherhood. "Now compare this to Indian 'Hindu' cricketers who never uttered a single word in support of CAA or against the perpetual systematic ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh."

Another social media user said that a strong board would have deported Rizwan by now, but the main opposition party of India has the same stance. 

While some users wanted the Pakistani team to be deported, others had a lighter take on Rizwan's tweet. Punita Toraskar asked Rizwan to visit Gaza and personally hand over his winnings. Since Saturday, Gaza's skyline is filled with dark smoke due to continuous strikes by Israel, which has vowed to dismantle Hamas.

Another social media user went one step ahead and asked the Pakistan cricketer to "donate your aata" to the Gazans. This was an apparent reference to Pakistan's economic situation which worsened in the past few years and prices soared leading to a severe food crisis.