Indian trolls have deluged Australian cricketer Travis Head and his wife Jessica with thousands of abusive comments after the batsman clashed with India star Virat Kohli.
Head and Kohli were involved in a verbal on-field spat during an Indian Premier League match, and since then social media users from the subcontinent have swarmed comment sections to target the Aussie couple.
An Instagram post showing the couple on their wedding day now has almost 55,000 comments, with more coming in by the second, although some users have also apologised for the behaviour of other Indian fans and called on them to stop.
Many of the comments are of a sexual nature, some contain threats directed at Head’s mother, including “I will make your mother naked and make her **** with a dog” and many more are too obscene to repeat.
Jessica told The Advertiser Indian fans were also attacking her family and friends via private message.
“It feels like a repeat of the abuse that happened after the World Cup,” she said, referring to rape and kidnapping threats levelled at her and the couple’s then-two-year-old daughter in 2023.
“I woke up to my socials blasting… we are fine but they are attacking my friends and family.”
She also asked fans to be kinder and think before being abusive on social media.
“I think across all sports at the moment there’s an important conversation around mental health, perspective and the way we speak to one another,” she said.
“Passion will always be part of sport, but so is remembering there are real people and families behind the game. Hopefully this encourages more kindness, and support for one another.”
On Sunday afternoon Jessica appeared to respond to the trolls by posting a photo of her hugging Travis and their daughter with a heart emoji on his Instagram story, which was also shared by Travis.
The troll onslaught started after Kohli refused to shake hands with Head after the match between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Friday following a comment Head made after Kohli was dismissed for 15 runs.
Header image: Left, Travis and Jessica Head’s wedding photo. Right, the family photo shared on the Heads’ stories (Instagram).
The post Swarms of Indian trolls bombard Aussie cricketer’s wife with vile abuse first appeared on The Noticer.
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