Malala Yousafzai’s Comment About India At ICC Gully Cricket Was Uncalled For And Could’ve Been Avoided

There are all kinds of people in the world. Some victims, others perpetrators, some who start a fire, and then others who fuel it. We know for a fact that Malala Yousafzai is a powerful voice and big personality. So when she took a dig at India, it came across as distasteful and something that could’ve been avoided.

The ICC World Cup Opening Ceremony  is happening today in front of the Buckingham Palace, London and the Pakistani acitvist was also there to witness the event.

To kickstart the event in the right spirit, a 60 second gully-cricket tournament was planned out for the 10 participating nations. India, having been represented by Farhan Akhtar and former Indian Skipper – Anil Kumble, ended up at the last position with 19 runs, and the defeat was accepted graciously. After all, it was an event meant to bring people together and be taken lightly. We get that.

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Except, Malala couldn’t hold back from commenting about India’s position, that even though was to be taken with a pinch of salt, ended up in a rather sour aftertaste. She said, “Pakistan, we were okay, not too bad, came No. 7…. but India came last!”

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Now here’s the thing. We all know that in practically every tournament, the India Pakistan clash is most looked forward to. And despite us wanting to be friendly, there’s just an underlying, simmering tension every time we play against each other. Recently though, attempts have been made to make it more about the game and less about the animosity.

When a statement like this comes from a personality like Malala, it carries so much more weight, and gets that much more amplified. While we aren’t suggesting any sort of action, we certainly think this sort of comment could have been avoided. A more celebratory approach, where she talks about how her country did would have been appreciated and been more in line with the spirit of the game.

Nope, we don’t think it’s a hate comment. But we certainly think she could have said anything else at all than this.

What are your thoughts?