Shastri avoids comment on Taskin-Dhoni picture controversy

Mirpur (Bangladesh), March 5 (IANS) India cricket team director Ravi Shastri on Saturday chose to avoid the Taskin Ahmed-Mahendra Singh Dhoni picture controversy saying he does not “read newspapers".

On Friday, two days ahead of the Asia Cup final between India and Bangladesh, a picture of right-arm pacer Ahmed carrying the severed head of the Indian limited-overs captain Dhoni had gone viral on social media.

Reportedly the picture was posted by a Bangladesh fan.

When asked about it at the pre-match media conference, Shastri said: ”I don’t read newspapers. You, people, should read the papers, we should go and play cricket. I don’t have a habit of reading when there are matches around. You read, think about what is written and make your assessments on that. We will only go out there and play cricket.”

This is not the first time a Bangladesh fan has targeted India on social media. Earlier in 2015 when India struggled to cope with pacer Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladesh newspaper had published a picture of half-shaved heads of the Indian players, in order to show the after-effects of Mustafizur’'s ‘cutters’.