Pakistan presenter Zainab Abbas leaves World Cup midway; was she deported, or left India on her own? Here is her old anti-India viral post
Chandigarh, October 10
Pakistani presenter Zainab Abbas — who was deputed to cover Pakistan’s World Cup games — left India on Monday after she was trolled on social media over her alleged old anti-India posts.
She was a part of the ICC digital team covering the ODI World Cup.
The 35-year-old was present at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad for Pakistan’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands on October 6.
Posts from her unverified X account had gone viral after she announced that she would be covering the ICC mega event in India.
London-based Pakistani journalist Ihtisham Ul Haq deletes his tweet defending Zainab Abbas after his own old Hinduphobic tweet in which he asks a random Hindu Twitter (X) user to go and drink cow piss goes viral.
Links to both the now-deleted tweets:https://t.co/BJvfwUEb3x… pic.twitter.com/JuTj1J9HNM
— Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) October 9, 2023
#ZainabAbbas entering India.#cwc23 pic.twitter.com/vukbb8vLIL
— Rajabets 🇮🇳👑 (@smileagainraja) October 9, 2023
As speculation on social media intensified over her departure from India in the middle of the tournament, the International Cricket Council clarified that Zainab was not deported from the host country.
Not only Hinduism, but disrespecting any religion is such an unethical thing and cannot be tolerated in developed countries!
Bye-Bye Zainab Abbas ✋
Yeh sab harqatain Pakistan 🇵🇰 maa jaa kar karna!! #ZainabAbbas pic.twitter.com/CJFrgHelXA
— Shayan Ali (@ShayaanAlii) October 9, 2023
“Zainab has not been deported, she has left for personal reasons,” an ICC spokesperson told PTI.
She was to travel to Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad where Pakistan are scheduled to play.
With PTI inputs