Ankur Nagpal commented on the Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw’s physical appearance despite his stellar performance for the Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.
Indian American entrepreneur Ankur Nagpal faced backlash on social media after his post body shaming cricketer Prithvi Shaw went viral. Last week, Sahw, a former Indian international player, delivered a solid 244 off just 153 balls. His exceptional performance enabled his team — Northamptonshire County Cricket Club —to defeat Somerset by 87 runs in the One-Day Cup on July 10 at the County Ground in Northampton, England. Nagpal, founder of Ocho and Teachable, shared an image of Shaw on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Indian diet and genetics are unparalleled,” he wrote. “This is a 23 year old Indian athlete. 23!”
Desis on the social media platform didn’t take Nagpal’s comment lightly, and called him out for what they described as racist. There were calls for Nagpal to introspect, while some pointed out that cricketers who would not be traditionally deemed fit have gone on to win matches and score centuries.
Cricket doesn’t necessarily need an athletic body especially batsmen. It’s timing, wrists etc.
The indian team is much more in shape than they used to be. Look at teams just 10 years ago.
Google “Boone”. Even Tendulkar never had a six pack.
Shobhan Ojha, who describes himself as a fitness coach, talked about past cricketers like Arjun Ranatunga or Inzamam ul Haq or Virender Sehwag were never considered “fit,” but were “match winners for the respective teams they played for.”
Arjun ranatunga or Inzmam ul Haq or even virender sehwag for that matter was never what you would consider “fit”.
All of them were match winners for the respective teams they played for.
On the other hand, we have players with six packs jo bc 4 saal se comeback hi kar rahe…
— Shobhan Ojha | Fitness Coach (@coach_shobhan) August 10, 2023
One of the people to respond to the post was author, entrepreneur and content creator Ankur Warikoo.“Bet his mom thinks “patla ho gaya hai” :)))” he wrote. He was not spared either. He later apologized. “I realize my mistake after people’s responses,” he wrote. “This pic is Prithvi Shaw’s who lost his mother at the age of 4. Which makes my post extremely insensitive and not something I am proud of,” he added. “In an attempt to invoke my mom’s natural reaction to my fitness levels in my 20s, I made a horrible mistake.”
I realize my mistake after people's responses.
This pic is Prithvi Shaw's who lost his mother at the age of 4. Which makes my post extremely insensitive and not something I am proud of.
In an attempt to invoke my mom's natural reaction to my fitness levels in my 20s, I… https://t.co/j99adWLKIY
A few days after his remarkable performance, Shaw made a century to give his team a six-wicket victory over Durham in the One-Day Cup. He scored an unbeaten 125 off just 76 balls with 15 fours and seven sixes. This time, however, the cricketer got nothing but praise and accolades for his stellar batting.
