Twitter roasts Shoaib Malik for 'not because he is Muslim' remark on Indian pacer Mohammed Shami

New Delhi: Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik created a stir on Twitter for his religious remark on Indian speedster Mohammed Shami while answering a question during an #AskShoaib session on Twitter with ICC.

“The best bowler in the Indian team is Mohammed Shami, not because he is Muslim. I have seen his bowling and played against him also. For me, I find him tough,” Shoaib had said.

A few days back, video of Shoaib picking his favourite Indian bowler was released by ICC, but the comments made by the Pakistani batsman were deemed rather 'unnecessary' by Twitterati.

Here's the video of Malik answering the question :-

.Baquerali2 #AskShoaib pic.twitter.com/CoQioY3nW5 — ICC Champions Trophy (@ICC2017official) May 26, 2017

Here's how the Twitterati reaction followed:-

@ICC @Baquerali2 Would ve agreed with him had he not entered religion on it. No need to get into religion to express ur fav. — Avhilash Adhikari (@Wild_Material) May 26, 2017

@ICC @Baquerali2 'Not because he is a Muslim guy'??
Totally unnecessary..

— Anshuman Jha (@anshumanjha_98) May 26, 2017

@ICC @Baquerali2 Sirji Sami is pride of India no need to bring religion between, by the we also like u as great player ur religion we never thought about — Naresh-Indian First (@SangamNaresh) May 26, 2017

Congrats #shoaibmalik to making to the news, we almost forgot u, grow up, don't mention #religion — Arun V Nair (@arunvnair85) May 28, 2017

We know M Shami is best bowler but you don't have rights to say the religion. U doesn't fit for sportsmanship .True Indian @realshoaibmalik https://t.co/vH6vXS6tkE — gowthaman (@gowthamanguru) May 28, 2017

India are set to face Pakistan in the opening Champions Trophy encounter on June 4, and ahead of the high-profile clash, Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmad weighed in on his team's chances against the defending champions.

“We have a better record against India in the Champions Trophy, not in other competitions. We are looking to maintain that against them and it’s very exciting,” he said at his pre-tournament press conference.

“We have nothing to lose, we just want to play our natural game. We have just played a very good series in the West Indies, where the players performed very well. We are very hopeful of playing well in this tournament and we want to win it. It is a very exciting time for us, there have been a lot of practice sessions at Edgbaston and we are ready to play,” he had further said.