SELFIE TRAGEDY
Pakistani reporter Zainab Abbas’s selfies with team captains are being deemed a bad omen for the said team
Zainab Abbas, a Pakistani sports journalist, now in England to cover the ongoing Champions Trophy matches has been flooded with requests from fans to post at least one selfie with Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews.
The reason is, whenever this reporter took selfies with the captains, their teams have lost the ODI! And Pakistan fans want to ensure that their team does not lose the crucial last match against Sri Lanka on Monday at the Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
The sequence started with Pakistan-India match on 4 June. Zainab took a selfie with Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and Pakistan lost the match against India. She then had a selfie with the South African skipper AB de Villiers and the South African team lost the match against Pakistan. It was then the turn of Virat Kohli, who too lost the match against Sri Lanka after taking a selfie with the reporter. Not only that, the last two captains, AB de Villiers and Kohli didn’t even open their account.
“Obviously it’s a coincidence. What more can there be to it?”, Zainab asked, while chatting with this reporter over her mobile from London.
“I am here to do my job and am/was a fan of AB and Kohli, hence got selfies with them. Unfortunately it didn’t work out (well for them),” she added.
“I really don’t care if my image on social media is portrayed as negative. I have taken a few selfies with the Pakistani skipper too and there is nothing wrong with it. If I get a chance to have a fresh selfie with the Sri Lankan skipper, why can’t I have it ? He is great player!” she said. “My wishes are with all the players of the tournament but obviously I will be supporting the Pakistan team (on Monday),” Zainab Abbas, the TV reporter, added. Fellow Pakistani reporter, Asif Khan, speaking exclusively from Karachi, says in her defence, “Taking selfies with anyone is not an awkward thing to do at all and we all take selfies with known personalities whenever a chance comes our way but terming these photos a bad omen for someone is totally uncalled for.” “I personally feel that fans, over the social media, went overboard and turned derogatory at times. We must understand the difference between humour and humiliation,” he added.
I really don’t care if my image on social media is portrayed negative
— ZAINAB ABBAS, PAKISTANI JOURNALIST