India sees spike in Islamophobia after heavy cricket defeat to Pakistan

Indian Muslim player Mohammed Shami was the target of a bigoted attack on social media and several students from Kashmir were assaulted after India lost to Pakistan on Sunday in a cricket match, raising concerns about growing Islamophobia in the country.

… several Indian handles on Twitter turned against Shami, falsely accusing him of throwing the match. They also tagged the player in tweets asking him and his family to “go to Pakistan” – a common refrain used by Hindu extremists against Indian Muslims, accusing them of disloyalty towards their homeland. Amid a rise in Hindu nationalism, Muslims – a minority group in India – are routinely accused of supporting Pakistan and targeted for their religion….

Several people called out the blatant display of Islamophobia and urged team India captain Virat Kohli and other cricketers to support Shami. “The Islamophobic hate against Shami with aspersions on his patriotism and his commitment to the country. If this and the state enabled hatred against Indian minorities is not worth taking a knee, I don’t know what is,” journalist Rana Ayyub wrote on Twitter….

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-vs-pakistan-cricket-mohammed-shami-b1944707.html