However, the claim was entirely false as Hassan Ali does not belong to the Shia sect. Moreover, the few tweets that were attacking Hassan Ali did not have sectarian hatred. But the Indian accounts shared old videos from anti-Shia rallies in Pakistan where hateful slogans were being chanted, falsely claiming that the slogans were against Hassan Ali.
https://twitter.com/riteshvnspraja1/status/1458893180988903424
https://twitter.com/ragav1221/status/1458884106113093633
Hassan dropped a crucial catch of Australian batsman Matthew Wade during Shaheen Afridi’s bowling in the penultimate over of the match. Wade then went on to hit three consecutive sixes to secure Australia a place in Sunday’s final.
While cricket followers in Pakistan were disappointed and heartbroken at the loss, numerous among them took to Twitter to defend and support Hassan Ali. Fans lauded the team’s effort throughout the tournament and reminded each other that one dropped catch was no metric to judge a player while reminiscing about Ali’s incredible performance during Pakistan’s successful Champions Trophy campaign in 2017.
https://twitter.com/ReemKhurshid/status/1458863727088910345
https://twitter.com/ThisisOshaz_/status/1458888145920008197
Fellow cricketers, including Pakistan’s women cricket teams captain Bismah Maroof and Shadab Khan, also came out to appreciate and commend the fast bowler.
https://twitter.com/maroof_bismah/status/1458868833066889217
https://twitter.com/76Shadabkhan/status/1459080092722905100
People on social media also reminded those spreading hate that neither was Hassan a Shia nor was he being targeted based on his religious affiliations.
https://twitter.com/IamYasif/status/1459085250680836096
Earlier Indian fans had targeted Muhammad Shami, the Indian fast bowler, because of his faith, after the loss to Pakistan in the opening game of the tournament.