ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Indian fans mock Mohammad Amir

What’s the story?

The match might have been completely one sided with India decimating Pakistan in all fields of the game in their first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. However, given the occasion, the fans did not hold themselves back and showed no mercy.

Just like the team, the Indian cricket team fans, too, came out all guns blazing and left no holds barred with their chants towards the Pakistani players. With videos emerging on social media platforms such as Twitter, the Indian fans were heard mocking Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir by referring to him as Qaidi no. 5.

The incident occurred during the first innings of the game when India were batting and Amir was fielding near the boundary line.

The Context

Qaidi no. 5 translates to “prisoner no. 5” and was in reference to the spot-fixing scandal of 2010. The number five was in reference to Amir’s jersey number in ODIs. In case you didn't know, Amir was handed a 5-year ban back in 2010 due to his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal of 2010 when Pakistan toured England.

Amir, along with Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif were found guilty of spot-fixing during the Test series against England. They were arrested soon after the incident and handed a ban with immediate effect.

While Amir made a successful return to international cricket, Butt and Asif are yet to do so.

The Details

Amir started off really well and did not concede too many runs during his first spell against Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. Unfortunately, he cramped up towards the end of the innings while bowling his 9^th over and was forced off the field. Wahab Riaz took over from there and was smashed all around the park by Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli, thus helping India reach 319 in 48 overs.

The Indian bowlers took some time to get going but once the first wicket fell, there was no looking back. The Pakistan batting line-up crumbled and were bowled out for 164, thus losing by 125 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

What’s next?

Pakistan will take on South Africa in what could be do-or-die encounter in their next match on June 7.

Author’s Take

There might be a lot of tension between the two nations and the rivalry might be extremely heated, but the fans must ensure not to cross a certain line when it comes to what they say against a certain cricketer. The chant against Amir was in poor taste and the incident should not have taken place.