Mushfiqur in the eye of a tweetstorm

It was bound to happen. The mercury in two cricket-mad nations had been bubbling to breaking point and on Thursday, much like a scene from a cartoon, the thermometer burst. There has been much hand-wringing about how Bangladeshi fans on social media have been venting their frustration at their team's failures on social media and how most of that venting has had the Indian team in its crosshairs. There has also been plenty of return fire. But on Thursday, it was not an ordinary fan but the Test captain of Bangladesh who -- there is no other word for it -- trolled the Indian cricket team.

“Happiness is this....!!!!!!! #ha ha ha..!!!! India lost in the semifinal..,” tweeted Mushfiqur Rahim moments after India lost in the semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 to West Indies. There were also three sunglass-wearing emojis within those 70-odd characters.

Mushfiqur's Facebook presence also weighed in, featuring a selfie of the smiling Mushfiqur in front of a television screen showing West Indian celebrations. “Happiness is this....Now I can sleep much better ... West Indies you beauty!!!!” was the message interspersed with frowning emojis with and without sunglasses.

Both of these were taken down, but not before a tweetstorm broke out the likes of which will probably force the usually mild-mannered and reticent Mushfiqur to hide out in a region of the country without 3G coverage or wi-fi. Livid Indian fans no doubt saddened by their team's elimination, did not hold back in letting Mushfiqur know exactly what they thought of him, his team and his country.

Mushfiqur immediately tried to make amends, tweeting “Sorry to all of you guys...as i am a big West Indies supporter but anyway sorry again for some harsh words...!!!!,” this time without any emojis.

The comedy in all this cannot be ignored, and is indeed very rich, or at any rate easy. It was Mushfiqur at the crease when Bangladesh needed two runs to win off three balls against India, and that win would have seen India all but eliminated at the group stage. What followed was Mushfiqur's dismissal followed by Mahmudullah Riyad's and a last-ball run-out. So, in fan speak and especially India-Bangladesh social media speak, Mushfiqur should not be heard speaking about cricket at least till Bangladesh start winning again, much less troll the team that they slipped on a banana peel against. And he was told that in no uncertain terms. 

Although all this may seem harsh and there is a tendency to view social media outbursts as impulsive eruptions not to be taken too seriously, in today's world Mushfiqur is fair game. Within an hour of the tweets seeing the backlights of smartphones around the world, multiple Indian news outlets carried the story. A few days ago Australian cricket writer Jarrod Kimber wrote an in-depth piece for ESPNCricInfo about how the Bangladeshi fans have been reacting on social media about every perceived slight against their players, and before that Indian journalist Boria Majumdar wrote a piece on the India Times blog about the propensity of Bangladeshi fans to see conspiracy at every turn, especially in light of Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny's suspensions for illegal bowling actions. Their insinuation was that Bangladeshi fans need to grow up to match their team's progress. That can now extend to the players.

Till Thursday the finger of blame was pointed at the passionate supporters, but it must now be asked whether the cricketers themselves feed the jingoistic passions in their supporters. It has not just been Mushfiqur -- from former BCB president Mostafa Kamal's outburst against the ICC after the 2015 quarterfinal loss to India to captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's strong insinuation that they were dealt a hard hand by the Taskin ruling, the victim mentality is pervasive. Mushfiqur's tweeting accident was just the latest and unfortunately high-profile example of that.