Watch: Was Malala Yousafzai really attempting to troll India at a World Cup event?
What the critics did not see: Malala followed her quip with, ‘India played really well, they tried their best and we appreciate their hard work.’
The opening ceremony of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was held on May 29 in London, with former cricketers and famous personalities of participating countries in attendance. Representing India was Bollywood producer and actor Farhan Akhtar and former Test captain Anil Kumble. The two, however, stood last in a 60-second challenge where the representatives of participating nations had to score the maximum number of runs in a minute. Pakistan, represented by human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and cricketer Azhar Ali, finished second from the bottom.
A snippet from Malala’s interaction after the challenge with host Shibani Dandekar has gone viral. In the snippet, Malala can be heard saying that Pakistan came seventh but India came last.
This, however, was not Malala’s complete statement. In the complete video (top), Malala follows her comment with, “India played really well, they tried their best and we appreciate their hard work.”