Taskin's picture with Dhoni's head sparks controversy

When Indian team director Ravi Shastri was asked to comment on the picture, he denied the knowledge of it and brushed it off saying that he and the Indian players were focusing on playing cricket and are not concerned about things happening outside it.

Taskin Ahmed was morphed in the controversial picture.

The high intensity Asia Cup final between Bangladesh and India had its unpalatable fallout in the social media where a morphed picture of the Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed running wild with the severed head of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni started trending. After the picture was displayed in some newspapers and internet websites, it came up for huge criticism in among the Bangladesh journalists, who described it as the creation of a sick mind.

 

The question propped up during the pre-match news conference ahead of the final. When Indian team director Ravi Shastri was asked to comment on the picture, he denied the knowledge of it and brushed it off saying that he and the Indian players were focusing on playing cricket and are not concerned about things happening outside it.

“I don't read all these newspapers. You people read. We will go and play cricket. I do not have the habit of reading during matches. You read and you make your own assessments on that. Our job is to get out there and play cricket,” Shastri said.

Last year, after Bangladesh registered a historic ODI series win over India, a section of local media poked fun at the Indian team. A caricature of top Indian cricketers, including Dhoni and Virat Kohli, were displayed with their heads half shaven. Mustafizur, whose cutters destroyed the famed Indian batting — was also in the picture — holding a sharpner. The picture also sparked controversy then.