England players bash Taslima Nasreen over her controversial ‘ISIS’ tweet regarding Moeen Ali
“If Moeen Ali were not struck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS,” she wrote on Twitter.
Several England cricketers including Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Sam Billings have bashed controversial Bangladesh author Taslima Nasreen for her distasteful comment about all-rounder Moeen Ali.
Moeen came into the spotlight on Sunday after certain websites/sections of media reported that he has requested his franchise Chennai Super Kings' management to remove an alcohol brand's logo from his jersey. However, CSK later clarified that no such request was made by the English player.
Moeen doesn't support logos of alcohol brands on any of his jerseys, be it for England or any other domestic side he plays for around the world.
In a tweet posted on Monday (April 5), Taslima reckoned had it not been cricket, Ali would be in terror-ridden Syria and joined ISIS – which is a dreaded terror organisation.
"If Moeen Ali were not struck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS," she wrote on Twitter.
The post was retweeted 832 times before it was removed.
On Tuesday, few England cricketers also slammed her for her tweet.
Archer wrote, "Are you okay ? I don't think you're okay".
Meanwhile, Duckett even asked his followers to report Taslima's Twitter account.
"This is the problem with this app. People being able to say stuff like this. Disgusting. Things need to change, please report this account!" Duckett wrote.
And with the matter getting out of hands, she took to Twitter to issue a clarification. Taslima insisted that her tweet regarding Moeen was a sarcastic one.
"Haters know very well that my Moeen Ali tweet was sarcastic. But they made that an issue to humiliate me because I try to secularize Muslim society & I oppose Islamic fanaticism. One of the greatest tragedies of humankind is pro-women leftists support anti-women Islamists," Taslima's tweet read.
Archer once again retweeted Taslima's post and replied, "Sarcastic? No one is laughing, not even yourself, the least you can do is delete the tweet."
Another English pacer Saquib Mahmood wrote "Sarcastic? You have a sick sense of humour"
Former England pacer Ryan Sidebottom floated an idea of deleting Taslima's Twitter account. "I think you might need to check if you're feeling ok !!! Maybe delete your account too," Sidebottom tweeted.
Moeen was bought by CSK for INR 7 crore in the players' auction held in February 2021.