There’s a time and place for cricket — but it’s not under Shan Masood’s post for his late sister

Pakistan, we’re at an all-time low when it comes to our cricketers and cricket fans. Some big names have stuck their feet in their mouths recently and now fans of one of our greatest stars are proving they are really quite gross.

Shan Masood was appointed captain of the Pakistan cricket team’s Test squad after Babar Azam announced his resignation as captain of all three formats. Babar’s fans are understandably disappointed, but what’s not understandable — or forgivable — is the way some of them are choosing to express that disappointment.

They decided the perfect place to vent was in the comment section of Masood’s post wishing his deceased sister a happy birthday.

The level of depravity required to go curse Masood out on a post like this is astounding. Most of the comments called him a “parchi” and said they support Babar.

But there were others that were truly abusive and vile.

There were several comments defending Masood and calling out the rude comments as well.

This guy was a bit confused but he had the right spirit.

The tribute to his sister is Masood’s most recent post on his Instagram page, which is likely why people chose to comment on it, but for God’s sake — have some decency.

Cricket is supposed to be a gentleman’s game, but no one seemed to let these ‘fans’ know that. They decided to demonstrate the lowest levels of their intellect and the highest levels of utter grossness by commenting on this post. They also haven’t seemed to learn the concept of time and place — this was neither the time nor place to make rude comments about Masood’s skills or pulling him down for his selection.

The apple seems to have fallen in a completely different country from the tree, because Babar has never been known for making petty and rude comments towards other players, let alone players on the same team as him. In his resignation post, he affirmed his support for the new captain and his dedication to the team.

He has, in fact, demonstrated many times that sportsmanship and grace win the day. The ‘fans’ who commented under Masood’s post would do well to take a page from his book and show some grace and dignity.