Once Again, Fans Are Throwing Slurs At The Wife For What Happened On A Pitch

The beginning of men's IPL 2024 has been rather disappointing for many. Cricketers like Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni have been pulled down from the captaincy in their respective teams. This led to many people becoming nostalgic and even critical of the decision. Consequently, the criticism became intense when Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians, which was earlier led by Sharma, lost three matches in a row. Pandya has been facing a lot of criticism from fans, trolls and experts. In addition to this, his wife, Nataša Stanković, too is being targeted by the trolls. 

Nataša Stanković, who has a huge following on Instagram, constantly engages warmly with her followers on her page. However, the vicious trolling in the aftermath of MI's poor performance has filled her comment section with shameful slander, name-calling, and derogatory remarks.  

Some of the comments made included: "Chapri ki biwi chaprian", "Flop actress 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻" and more. This is not the first time that families of the cricketers have been targeted for their performances on the field. 

When Shubman Gill's sister was trolled in IPL 2023

In the IPL 2023, Shubman Gill made an appreciable performance on the field. As Gujarat Titans' opener, the cricketer scored an unbeaten century against Royal Challengers Bangalore. This led to RCB being kicked out of the season. Gill made a post on Instagram saying “It begins now💙⚡️.” Appreciating the performance of her brother, Shahneel commented on his post and said, "My babyyy"

However, soon after her comment, trolls targeted her for using obscenities. Moreover, considering the massive fan following of RCB, the fans targeted Shahneel for RCB's loss. 

When Anushka Sharma was labelled as "panauti"

Anushka Sharma has often been trolled and shamed for Virat Kohli's poor performance on the field. She has been labelled as bad luck for him and has been denied from getting any credit for his achievements. Even though Sharma has always supported Kohli, the trolls demanded that she should be banned from coming to the stadium. 

In 2020, when India lost its first match against Australia in a Test series going on in Adelaide, an X user somehow managed to drag Sharma while giving reasons for the loss. The user said, "The only explanation for this is that Anushka Sharma just went into labour and they’re trying to get Kohli back in time for the birth."

Not only trolls, but experts too target the wives of the sportsmen to blame for their loss. In 2020, when RCB lost the match to Kings II Punjab, Sunil Gavaskar made a sexist comment and said, "Inhone lockdown mein toh bas Anushka ki gendon ki practice ki hai."

When MS Dhoni's daughter received rape threats

How can we forget the time when MS Dhoni's daughter was given rape threats by trolls because Dhoni did not perform well in the IPL? Are wives, sisters or daughters responsible for the loss or win of the sportsmen? Or do we assume that a sportsman's familial responsibilities are less important than their national duties? Or that sportsmen forget their professional duties after being 'enticed' by the family life? Targeting families of famous personalities is very common. It is just a reflection of the patriarchal mindset that thinks men can be emasculated by targeting the women of their families. 

Don't sportspersons deserve better fans? 

The fans idolise the celebrities forgetting that they are humans too with a life and family. The fandom creates huge expectations from celebrities, sometimes unreasonable. 

As a result, when celebrities fail to meet the mark or move slightly away from the pedestal they have been placed on, fans feel so disoriented that they start criticising their 'idols'. Their assumption that celebrities are perfect with no flaws makes them intolerant of failure. Even one loss in the match or one flop movie makes fans think that those celebrities do not deserve to be followed or respected. 

Is it right to idolise celebrities to the extent that they are dehumanised and kept away from basic rights? Are celebrities' existence limited to being role models of their fans? Do they not have hard times in life when they can't really focus on their professional life?  

Fans who are so intolerant as to dismiss the celebrity who took a break to be with his wife during pregnancy do not deserve to call themselves fans. If someone really supports the celebrities, they would understand the difference between being a fan and being an obsessive and intolerant troll. 

In the evolving society where everyone has the right to express themselves, fans need to be open-hearted enough to let celebrities live freely without any insecurity, threat or fear. As far as making errors is concerned, fans do have the right to criticise the celebrities who do or say something unacceptable but criticism, discussion and improvement are nowhere similar to vicious trolling. 

Views expressed are the author's own.