Just after the Aussies lifted the cricket World Cup trophy defeating India, Australian cricketer, Mitchell Marsh, has found himself at the center of a controversy after an image of him with his legs resting on the ICC ODI Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 trophy surfaced.
The picture in which Marsh is seen sitting on a couch with a beer bottle in his hands as he rests both his legs over the trophy was uploaded by Australia captain Pat Cummins on Instagram within hours of their win. It is going crazy viral and has raised a social media storm.
This ‘disrespect’ towards the prized trophy (and the winning of World Cup) has not gone down well with fans of cricket, a sport revered by over a billion Indians.
Photo appears to be from the hotel room where the Aussies were stationed in Ahmedabad(India) where the final match were played. Photo was also posted by well known cricket social media identity Mufaddal Vohra on X(formerly Twitter) to his more than 750,000 followers with the caption “Mitchell Marsh with the World Cup”, and has been viewed over 4.1 million times.
An enraged fan in Aligarh town (Uttar Pradesh, India) has filed a police complaint against the 32-year-old Aussie all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, seeking a lifetime ban from playing in India.
“By putting his feet on something that Indians consider sacred (the trophy), Marsh has disrespected both religious and cultural sentiments of the nation,” the complainant activist Pandit Keshav Dev, president of the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Sena, has stated in his letter. Reportedly, copies of this complaint have been forwarded to the Indian Prime Minister and Sports Ministry.
According to a police official who confirmed receiving the complaint, reportedly said so far a case has not been registered and further procedure will follow only after receiving a report from the cyber cell.
The Australian team has been the target of the harshest vitriol on social media by Indian fans since they lost the World Cup to Australia.
Marsh had no idea of the backlash the image had created when he landed in Australia after their victory. “It’s got a bit of legs that photo, hasn’t it?” he joked when asked. “Pardon the pun.”
The all-rounder, Marsh had a fruitful 2023 World Cup with the bat, mustering 441 runs in 10 matches averaging 49. He had to depart home midway through the tournament due to his grandfather’s death before returning to India.
– from NewsViews
