'This is absolutely unprofessional' - Twitter slams ICC for trolling Hasan Ali

The International Cricket Council (ICC) made headlines on Thursday after their Twitter handle brutally trolled Pakistan’s pace all-rounder Hasan Ali. He was bowled on a delivery off Kagiso Rabada during the first Test match of the two-match series between South Africa and Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi.

While batting in the second innings, Hasan Ali fell prey to South Africa’s speed merchant Kagiso Rabada in 109th over on 21. Rabada kept the ball straight with an angle and Hasan backed away and swung hard with an aim to clear the mid-wicket but missed it completely and the ball uprooted the middle stump. With Ali’s wicket, Rabada also touched the remarkable mark of 200 wickets in the purest format of the game.

Posting two pictures of Hasan Ali from the same instance, ICC’s Twitter handle trolled the batsman with the caption, “Your profile picture vs the full picture.” However, this tweet by the cricket body didn’t go well with many cricket enthusiasts, especially the Pakistan cricket fans.

They slammed ICC for criticizing a player and exhibiting their unprofessional behaviour. According to a section of fans, the tweet was done in ‘bad taste’ and it doesn’t match the standards of an organisation like the International Cricket Council.

Your profile picture vs the full picture 😄#PAKvSA pic.twitter.com/jMw1niI0co

— ICC (@ICC) January 28, 2021

Pakistan deemed the favourites to win the first Test

Touring Pakistan after a long span of 13 years, the visiting nation South Africa isn’t enjoying an ideal outing as they have been outplayed by the hosts in the first Test match thus far. Put to bowl first, Pakistan bowlers breathed fire with the ball as they bundled out the opposition at a below-par total of 220 runs.

The leg-spinner Yasir Shah emerged as the highest wicket-taker for the hosts with three wickets under his belt while opening batsman Dean Elgar was the highest run-getter for Proteas with a knock of 58 runs. Pakistan then posted a total of 378 on the board as Fawad Alam hammered a scintillating century while Faheem Ashraf and Azhar Ali added 64 and 51 runs to the scoreboard.

As for Hasan Ali, he scored 21 runs with the bat in the first innings and picked up a wicket as well. In the second innings so far, the pacer has accounted for one wicket and will be looking to do well. Meanwhile, Twitter was filled with slamming tweets for ICC and Hasan Ali was trending for the same reason.

Here are some of the tweets:

Can @ICC go this low 🤔 https://t.co/v05DE7K4f2

— Inshan Haniffa (@HaniffaInshan) January 29, 2021

Cheap sense of humour.. https://t.co/NEyAUMo8jz

— AKSM (@Shah_Kazmi110) January 28, 2021

not the professional tweet by @icc .. https://t.co/mQeMDWuZpC

— प्रतीक राज पाण्डे 🇳🇵 (@pandeyjiispeaks) January 28, 2021

ICC is funded by RAW and we all knew it https://t.co/bu0xG0uFhu

— Asmer Asrar Safi (@asmerasafi) January 28, 2021

ICC is not serious https://t.co/EurGGpjuMH

— Malla Hassan (@MallaHassan3) January 28, 2021

This is absolutely unprofessional by ICC. https://t.co/Z2EIUHNJhT

— Bingo (@OIAmNoBodyO) January 28, 2021