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'We also don't know Sachin anymore': Indian Twitterati apologises for trolling Maria Sharapova in 2014

Tendulkar was among former cricketers and Bollywood stars who pushed back against international celebrities tweeting in favour of the farmers' protests

FP Staff|Feb 05, 2021, 00:23:23 IST

Angered over Sachin Tendulkar's tweet on the farmers' protest, scores of Indians on Thursday flooded tennis star Maria Sharapova's social media pages apologising for trolling her in 2014.In an interview in 2014, Sharapova had said that she wasn't aware who Tendulkar was, drawing the ire of Tendulkar's Kerala fans. Many claiming to be Tendulkar fans were back on her social media platforms on Thursday, apologising for their "crude behaviour" six years ago."Sharapova, you were right about Sachin, that he is not a person of quality that you should know," a social media user commented in Malayalam, as were hundreds of other messages in the south Indian language.While most messages were apologetic for the trolling, a few even invited Sharapova to visit India once the coronavirus pandemic receded. Most of the comments were from Tendulkar's supporters in Kerala, several media reports said.PTI reported that one social media user offered her shawarma and a special type of biryani as a peace offering, while another said, "One truckload of apologies, sister. We didn't have your foresightedness. Time proved that you were right."Tendulkar was among former cricketers and Bollywood stars who pushed back against international celebrities tweeting in favour of the farmers' protests.Known as 'God of Cricket' among his fans, on Wednesday, Tendulkar had tweeted: "India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants," Tendulkar tweeted, with the two hashtags used by the Ministry of External Affairs, '#IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda'.

His tweet was part of identical tweets sent out by several Indian celebrities in response to international pop star Rihanna expressing solidarity with the farmers' stir.The tweet did not go down well with his fans too, with many hitting out at their "God". Over the thousands of comments in Malayalam, all had a similar pattern of apologising to Sharapova for attacking her earlier."I am sorry, Maria, the legend. We knew Sachin as a player. But we didn't knew him as a person. You were right and sorry for commenting bad on your FB post (sic)," another user said.On Thursday, Sharapova's latest posts on Facebook and Twitter had over 3,000 and 350 comments respectively.

The News Minute reported that people commenting on Sharapova's posts "included people with and without party affiliations".The report also quoted a few Facebook comments:"Dear Maria, we are sorry for the cyber attack against you in the name of Sachin (sic)," said one user, while another added, "That day without maturity I had posted some comments in favor of Sachin and bullied you. I am sorry Maria (sic)."Another person commented, "Sorry for the attack you faced from my country back in 2014 when you said you didn't know Sachin. Better you didn't know him (sic).""Dear Ms. Sharapova, You're absolutely right, we're sorry to blame you when you expressed your opinion about Sachin Tendulkar on 2014, That man is standing against the farmers, who are backbone of all humans of India (sic)," said another comment.

With inputs from PTI

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