During the ICC World Cup 2015, the Pakistan cricket team’s coach Waqar Younis refused to entertain a reporter’s demand of apologising to fans for not playing Sarfraz Ahmed earlier in the tournament. The wicketkeeper-batsman had replaced Nasir Jamshed in a game against South Africa, after the left-handed opener failed embarrassingly in three of the first four games. The reporter had spoken up after a lot of hue and cry was raised on social media for Sarfraz Ahmed to be played as an opener.

The incident also made one wonder if social media had become so strong that it could influence decisions made by cricketing authorities in Pakistan. Seasoned sports-writer Ahmer Naqvi denies that claim. “Social media does not impact decisions directly, it needs mainstream media’s help to create a stir,” says Naqvi.

Social media is still a growing phenomenon in Pakistan. It is mostly confined to the youth of the country. The higher authorities do not keep track of social media activities. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has a dedicated team that keeps an eye on what is happening in the online world.

In sports, as it is for any other field, social media is a two-edged sword because it has no filters that can help weigh people’s words, commendatory or critical, before they utter them. This can sometimes prove psychologically damaging for sportspersons. Eos elicits experts’ views on the issue

Experienced sports journalist Asif Khan claims that the PCB monitors social media strongly. He says, “The PCB authorities are aware of what is happening on social media. Their monitoring teams even prepare reports based on things discussed there. It varies from topic to topic. For example, if something comes out from the Pakistan Super League [PSL], it will be discussed by the authorities. One thing is certain, that discussions on social media do get attention from the board. Taking action on it or not is another thing.”

There are some social media groups such as The Boys in Green and Cricket HQ which are followed by people such as PCB officials, the players themselves and their relatives. The Boys in Green, also known as BIG, have been quite vocal about different issues. In fact, they conducted a survey on who should be the captain of the national team and shared the results in an open letter. “We conducted a survey about who should be appointed the captain of the Pakistan team and we subsequently shared the results through an open letter to the then PCB chairman,” shares Bulund Akhtar Noman, one of the founding members of the group.

However, Kamran Muzaffer, who is excellent at playing with numbers and who administrates Cricket HQ, believes that social media should not be influential on the selection criteria and that the selectors should do their job keeping only merit in mind. “I don’t think, and I don’t hope that any group ever reaches that level of influence, but if it happens it will be very harmful for cricket,” he says. “The decisions of the board and selection should be based on merit, not noise.”

Another administrator of BIG, Umair Qazi, echoes Muzaffer’s words, “I don’t think there is any impact, and campaigning in any form doesn’t have any effect as the selectors make their own choices based on varying criteria.”

This age of social media has, however, put added pressure on national players. But administrators of Facebook pages believe that cricketers have always been exposed to the media and are vulnerable to criticism. “Fundamentally, all cricketers are supposed to be performers and no performance is complete without an audience and feedback — be it the negative one. The rise of social media has only altered the mode of feedback,” says Muzaffer.

But Khan feels that players have been bashed ruthlessly online. There is a kind of criticism that is almost unacceptable. “There is no justified criticism on social media,” he says. “Whatever is inside me, I will just vent it out without any filter. You have got to be very calculated on social media, even if you are writing just one line.”

Naqvi worked closely with the cricketers when he was associated with Islamabad United. He was surprised to see how keenly the players followed social media. They are aware of all the happenings, in fact, they are afraid of becoming meme material or a laughing stock. “Players are human,” says Naqvi. “Anybody who is being made fun of, does not like it. Experienced players learn to block these things out. Even when they are using social media, they like to avoid such channels where they believe there will be negativity,” he adds.

A social media profile of a person reflects on their personality, whereas social media activities of a country reflect on society as a whole. There are two kinds of social media critiques: one is well-versed in cricket technicalities, and the other group just knows to criticise everything. “Just like it is on television, it is a mix of both — people who know and understand the game and those who are there just for pointless criticism,” says Qazi.

Muzaffer also backs this point. “Social media is just another medium of communication in society. One would find as many persons having knowledge of the game and indulging in pointless criticism like they do on television, radio or in print.”

Winning or losing is all a part of the game. There are good days and bad days for the players. Like any other professional in the world, they too find it hard to perform at times. But Pakistan cricket fans hardly consider cricketers as human beings. “We use social media to express our anger,” says Naqvi. “We say things which we will never say in public, we probably consider cricketers as objects on the social media and forget that they are human.”

On the other hand, the players also need to be smart while using social media. The platform can make or break their image. There are smart players who milk even their small contributions. They gain popularity by putting up their training videos or similar things on the Internet. “Social media is a ruthless platform, there is no censorship here, you cannot control the reactions here so you have to be extremely careful what you post,” Khan says. “If you are not performing well and you are giving sermons on social media, you will get a backlash and that too uncensored.”

Moreover, players tend to create a specific image of themselves through social media. Once a controversial personality is created, no matter how well a player plays, he will never be appreciated by the fans. “We have a pre-conceived idea about players. We do not read about them, we do not see how they are performing, if we have a negative impression about a certain player, no matter what, we will criticise him.”

Khan believes that people need to be graceful on social platforms while criticising players. There should be constructive criticism by fans, rather than trolling. “Our people on social media lack grace. We troll someone and think we have achieved something,” he says.

Naqvi urges fans to be empathetic towards players and be a bit nicer to them. “Social media can be a very unforgiving place. It is a reality. What we can do is be nicer while criticising, be a little empathetic. We need to understand that they have families too.”

The writer tweets @Arslanshkh

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 3rd, 2018