Cricket: Indian fans blame Virat Kohli’s wife for disastrous first Test loss to Australia

As India sank to a new low on the pitch, some of the team’s disgruntled fans sank to a new low on social media.

India has many questions to answer heading into Boxing Day after being eliminated by its lowest test total in Adelaide on Saturday, paving the way for Australia’s incredible victory over eight wickets.

The Tourists were thrown for just 36 in their second inning on the third day, no batters did it in double figures. And they will have to recover without captain Virat Kohli, who is heading home for the birth of his first child and will miss the remaining three test matches of the tour.

Ajinkya Rahane will be set as patron, but Kohli’s loss further weakens a hitting lineup that will be desperately short of confidence for Melbourne.

Some fans, incredibly unfair, took to social media to blame Kohli’s wife, Anushka Sharma, for distracting the Indian captain or pressuring him to return home.

This horribly wrong take saw Sharma’s trend on social media after the debacle.

However, there were also many people willing to defend her and criticize anyone who blamed Sharma.

Former MasterChef star Adam Liaw received a backlash after making a joke on Twitter that not everyone saw the funny side.

“The only explanation for this is that Anushka Sharma has just gone into labor and they are trying to get Kohli back in time for the birth,” Liaw tweeted in reference to India’s humiliating collapse.

Many of the responses to that joke suggested that Liaw had missed the mark with his attempt at humor and urged him not to comment on the players’ families, even if it was in jest.

India’s National Herald slammed Sharma’s critics, writing: “Sulking Indian fans began once again to blame Bollywood actor and Captain Kohli’s wife Anushka Sharma for the poor performance of the India team.

“It was worse and more insensitive than before because this time the actor’s pregnancy was highlighted and blamed on social media by frustrated netizens (Internet users).”

The Times of India published a video in which it said: “It was Anushka Sharma who faced unnecessary attacks on social media for the poor performance of the men in blue.”

Sports writer Zenia D’cunha was upset that Sharma was trending online and asked overzealous Indian fans to leave her out of it.

“I sincerely hope that the usual suspects don’t drag Kohli’s family into this cricket mess,” he tweeted.

“Going on paternity leave in the middle of an important tour is a PERSONAL AND ALLOWED decision. Please don’t bring your wife, her name is already trending for the wrong reasons!”

The writer Nishtha Satyam echoed that sentiment. “Why is @AnushkaSharma being blamed every time for Virat Kohli’s performance?” she tweeted.

“This says something more profound about the sexism that exists in our society. It is obscene that women are the easiest target in any situation.”