Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has come in for a lot of criticism after the team's loss against arch rival India, but a fan recently took things too far as he shouted abuses at the 32-year-old while he was out with his family in a mall.
A video of the incident, which has gone viral, shows that the "fan" asked Sarfaraz Ahmed for a selfie and when he obliged despite having his kid with him, the man started shouting abuses at him, body-shaming him and calling him "fat like a pig".
Instead of responding to the disgusting attack by lashing out, the Pakistan captain maintained his composure and left without retaliating even as the man kept shouting insults behind his back.
A shameful act by a Pakistani fan with captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, this is how we treat our National Heros. Highly condemnable!! 😡 pic.twitter.com/WzAj0RaFI7 — Syed Raza Mehdi (@SyedRezaMehdi) June 21, 2019
Fans have come out in support of Sarfaraz, praising him for staying cool in the face of abuse and said his mother's teachings reflected in how he reacted.
Others termed the behaviour of the man in the video as "shameful" and "completely unacceptable".
"They are professionals. Imagine you are abused like this while you are in public for some mistake you did in your 9 to 5 job. Sickening," one fan on social media responded to the video.
Another pondered what if Sarfaraz too had responded in the same manner. "Someday some athlete will lose his patience and the world will outrage over that athlete. It's incidents like these that makes sportsmen isolate themselves from fans," he wrote.
The 32-year-old has been at the receiving end of a lot of abuse over the past week, with his and his teammates fitness levels being questioned. Angry supporters have lashed out at the players for eating too many "pizzas and burgers" before the India match.
That Sarfaraz was caught yawning lazily by television cameras during the game against India did not help.
In another such video, some fans in the Old Trafford stadium were heard shouting, "Sarfaraz, you're fat" at him from the stands repeatedly.
Former Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar had also attacked Sarfaraz in a video on his YouTube channel, where he not only shamed Sarfaraz for being "fat", but went on to call him "brainless".