It is true that Rishabh Pant has had the worst IPL of his career. And that’s true as both player and skipper. Nothing that he has done has gone right. But then, such things happen in sport and Pant isn’t the first or the last to have a very poor season.
If you see social media, you will see a section of people – and some of them almost every day – abusing Pant and getting away with it. It is as if this is their only job. The same can be said of a section targeting Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. Each time they fail, the trolls become hyperactive. The truth is these people want these players to fail to start their abuse, and that’s where we can find a pattern.
It is unmitigated abuse and goes against the grain of every kind of fandom. While I have mentioned Pant, Samson and Ishan here, you can add multiple other names to this list if you want to. These trolls forget that in sport, you will lose far more than you win, and out of the 10 IPL teams, only one can win. That’s how sport is, and will always be.
With social media, it is all a blur. Even before you know it, faceless trolls are all over you. They heap abuse on you knowing you can’t do anything about it because they hide in the shadows and will never come out into the open. They are like an invisible virus. Just like the world found it impossible to deal with Covid-19 because the virus was invisible, so also the social-media trolls who have no ethics or dignity.
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To respond to trolls is to dignify them. But what they do is try to get into your mind. Try and push you into making mistakes and responding. Every provocation is an attempt to solicit a response. And with the players mentioned above, the trolls have done their best to draw them out of their comfort zone. Make the players respond with statements, which could then be used against them.
Having been at the receiving end of trolling multiple times in my career, I can say one thing with certainty. Just learn to treat these trolls with disdain. Write your post and move on. Do what you have to and don’t bother. Create a protective cocoon around you and stay in it. No point in engaging or taking them seriously. And when it becomes too much, just block. Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Pant, in failure, has to seek redemption. For the first time in his career, he is seeing a slump so severe. He can’t score and it is deeply painful to be in this state. For a proud performer, it can impact his mental health. But then, that’s what sport does. Challenges you. Pushes you to the brink. Tests you at every level. Pant has seen challenges and overcome them. This is another. Accept, introspect and redeem. England will be his opportunity. Do it for India, and do it for himself. Only then will the IPL nightmare be over for him. And then, the trolling will also stop!
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