Pictures of the man taking over from the field with the free Palestine message during the India vs Australia final of the ICC ODI Men’s World Cup 2023.
The incident happened during the first innings of the match when the Indian side was batting. Virat Kohli was on the pitch. The man came all the way running to the pitch and embraced Virat Kohli.
The close viral pictures show the man wearing a white shirt with a Palestinian flag on it and a slogan that reads ‘Free Palestine’. He also wore the face mask of the Palestinian flag.
He was soon taken out from the ground by the security staff. The man claims to be from Australia.
Indian media rushed to take his interview while he was being escorted out of the stadium. In his small interview, he said that he was John from Australia. The man said that he took the opportunity to raise his voice for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He also wanted to meet Virat Kohli.
“My name is John…I am from Australia. I entered (the field) to meet Virat Kohli. I support Palestine,” said the man in the video.
The man is Australian and belongs to Chinese-Filipino descent. The man quickly became the center of the attention.
Pictures of him instantly went viral across the globe. Netizens praised him for showing utmost bravery and raising the Free Palestine slogan that too during a cricket match in Ahmedabad stadium in front of a massive crowd.
Read more: Australia Claims Sixth World Cup, Beats India by Six Wickets
ICC prohibits political sloganeering during its events. Pakistani cricketer Muhammad Rizwan had faced immense criticism for dedicating his performance against Sri Lanka to the people of Gaza.
Gaza is facing indiscriminate bombings and aerial strikes from Israel since October 7th, 2023. Thousands of people have lost their lives in the recent bout of the Israel-Hamas conflict.