Taslima Nasreen’s tweet about England cricketer Moeen Ali draws ire from players, Twitterati

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen outraged many social media users after a controversial tweet on England and Chennai Super Kings cricketer Moeen Ali. Her post drew widespread condemnation from many, including Ali’s current and former teammates Jofra Archer and Ryan Sidebottom.

“If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS,” she wrote on Monday. English pacer Jofra Archer replied to her and wrote, “Are you okay? I don’t think you’re okay.” Several other cricketers also castigated the author. “I think you might need to check if you’re feeling ok!!! Maybe delete your account too,” wrote former England pacer Ryan Sidebottom. England internationals Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood also posted on the subject.

Nasreen later deleted the tweet and also issued a clarification of sorts on Tuesday, saying her tweet was “sarcastic”. This post, too, drew a sharp retort from Archer, who pointed out the tweet was not funny. “Sarcastic? No one is laughing, not even yourself, the least you can do is delete the tweet,” wrote Archer.


Moeen Ali was one of the top trends in India on Tuesday with several people, including politicians and activists tweeting in solidarity with the cricketer. CPI (ML) Kavita Krishnan’s post criticising Nasreen led to a war of words between the two. It is not clear why Nasreen posted the tweet.