Australia’s Mitch Marsh was pictured resting his feet on the World Cup Trophy with his medal hanging around his neck. Netizens were outraged by this and many saw it as an act of disrespect.
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Australia and the World Cup Final
The final was postured as a meeting of giants, a meeting of two red hot teams that looked unstoppable. The Narendra Modi Stadium would be the Battleground and Pat Cummins and Rohit Sharma would lead their men to war, hoping to return with the coveted trophy.
The Indian Captain looked in fabulous touch and started the Indian innings off with a bang. He built a sublime partnership with Virat Kohli to take India out of a tricky situation but eventually fell to Maxwell. From then on, India were on the back foot, the boundaries dried up and the priority became to rescue the innings. Kohli and Rahul put up a slow but commendable partnership which anchored India as they dragged themselves to a total of 240.
Australia’s bowling was incredible with the Skipper leading from the front. Australia’s work in the field was also immense, with the fielders constantly stretching themselves to save a run or two.
To top off a wonderful bowling performance, Travis Head showed the world Australia’s strength with the bat. Head dominated the Indian Bowling Attack on his way to a World Cup Final Century. Australia won with 7 overs to go and silenced the sea of blue in Gujarat.
About the Controversial Instagram Story
After winning the World Cup, the Aussie skipper took to Instagram to share a series of pictures of his teammates celebrating their victory. One such picture was that of All Rounder Mitch Marsh, sitting on a couch with a pint in his hand and his feet resting on the Trophy which was on the floor. Some parallels have been drawn to Emiliano Martinez and his celebration after winning the best Goalkeeper Award at the Football World Cup.
Earlier on, Marsh was forced to leave India for a private emergency. During this time, he sent a message to fellow All Rounder Marcus Stoinis, vowing to come back soon and lift a World Cup. It must have been vindicating to have been proven right after all these days.
The photo sparked a lot of controversy. Some claimed that Marsh was simply celebrating his victory in a way that seemed fit to him, while others claimed that it was downright disrespectful. Some fans on X, previously known as Twitter, also tagged the social media handles for BCCI and ICC, demanding that some sort of action be taken against Marsh for his act. Another popular opinion was that debating over things like this was useless and that Players should be fit to celebrate however they see fit.
What does this whole controversy tell us?
The whole ordeal tells us about how valuable respect and honor is to a fan of Cricket. The general cricket fan sees Trophies as symbols of achievements and wants them to be treated as such. Sportspeople in today’s day and age have an unfair responsibility to live up to their Fans. There’s a fine line between disrespect and celebration and sportspeople should be mindful of their actions to not cross that line.
This also teaches us about how powerful social media really is. A meaningless post by someone else can land you in trouble. Fundamentally, Social Media is a good way for Sportspeople to connect with their fans but with it, comes consequences.
