Pakistan defeated India on Sunday (4 September) by five wickets in what was both teams’ first match of the Super 4 stage. Mohammad Rizwan played an absolute stunner as he scored 71 runs off 51 balls. He got really good support from Mohammad Nawaz who played at an even better strike rate (42 runs off 20 balls). These two innings changed the course of the game in Pakistan’s favour. 

There was one more event that tilted the game in Pakistan’s favour and that was Arshdeep Singh’s dropped catch of Asif Ali. The Indian fielder dropped a dolly on the third ball of the 18th over and gave Asif Ali a reprieve. It proved costly for India as the batter scored 16 off 8 balls and took the game away from India. Although Arshdeep dismissed the batter in the 20th over, it was too late then. 

With Arshdeep dropping an important catch in India vs Pakistan, a backlash was certain from the fans. But as has been the case in recent times, the fans have become more aggressive and take trolling to a whole another level. An example of this was seen when Mohammed Shami was targeted for leaking runs against the same opposition in a T20 World Cup game. Shami was targeted on the basis of religion and the same happened to Arshdeep. 

However, there was also a section that defended the youngster saying it was a pressure game and the 23-year-old will do better. Former cricketers have also come in support of Arshdeep. While a few urged fans to not make lewd comments about the cricketer, Aakash Chopra put the pacer’s photo as the profile picture of his Twitter account. 

Apart from dropping that catch, Arshdeep had a terrific game. While the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, and Yuzvendra Chahal conceded more than 10 runs per over, Singh only gave away 27 runs in his four overs. With seven runs to defend off the last six balls, Arshdeep held his nerve and made the game interesting with Ali's wicket.