After the team's defeat in the opening match of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan last weekend, Indian captain Virat Kohli on Saturday ridiculed "spineless people" who insulted online bowler Mohammad Shami.
"Why are we playing on the field and not a bunch of spineless people on social media who don't really dare to talk to anyone in person," Kohli told reporters.
The Indian team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India were silent after the incident and today's players rarely speak so loudly.
However, several former Indian players have condemned the abuse on social media.
The whole of India’s attack on the Dubai blockbuster between neighbors and rivals was wicketless, and Shami, a Muslim, was the victim of online abuse with Islamophobic messages.
"Attacking someone with his religion is the most, I would say, the most tragic thing a man can do," Kohli said.
"I don't want to waste a single minute of my life focusing on these people, and not Shami or anyone else on the team."
The 32-year-old says online abuse has become "a source of entertainment in today's world" and he is confident the episode will not ruin the dressing room environment.
"We totally support him. We support him 200 percent ... our brotherhood, our friendship within the team - nothing can be shaken."
Kohli’s team will hope to avoid all such confusion and revive their campaign by winning Sunday’s crucial Super 12 match against New Zealand, who are smarter than losing to Pakistan.
New Zealand's Spearhead Trent Bolt has said he plans to quickly follow in the footsteps of his Pakistani left-arm colleague Shaheen Afridi and swing the ball to India's right-hand side.
Kohli said India had their own plan to defeat Bolt.
"If Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us, he must be motivated to do it and we need to be motivated to deal with it and put pressure on him and the other bowlers," Kohli said.
"We've been playing against all these bowlers for a long time and we understand what we have to do. The important thing now is how mentally framed we are when we set foot on the field."
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