A now-deleted tweet, which issued a rape threat to Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's 10-month-old daughter has caught the attention of even those who have nothing to do with cricket.
The screenshot of the obnoxious post started doing the rounds on the Internet after the Indian captain stepped up for fast bowler Mohammed Shami.
The threat, according to several media reports, was in response to Kohli's message that slammed the religious discrimination directed at Shami in the wake of India's loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup opener.
This time around, trolls have really crossed the line. Here's a screenshot of the tweet:
Here's how people on Twitter reacted soon after the screenshot grabbed eyeballs:
Kohli on Saturday hit back at "spineless trolls" who attacked Shami's religion and said targetting people for their faith is "the most pathetic thing" to do.
Shami, who endured an off day in India's 10-wicket defeat, was trolled on Instagram for his Muslim identity.
"Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, pathetic thing that a human being can do," skipper Kohli had said.
For Kohli, social media trolls are nothing but a bunch of "spineless" people, who don't have the courage to face real people in real life.
"There is a good reason why we are playing on the field and not some bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person," he had said
A lot of star players, including Sachin Tendulkar, had posted messages in support of Shami during the furore.
"Everyone has the right to voice their opinion and what they feel about a certain situation, but I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating (against) anyone over their religion.
"That is a very sacred and a personal thing and that should be left there," Kohli said.
The skipper said that he doesn't want to waste time on losers, who overlook the fact that Shami had made some great contribution for the country.
"....Mohammad Shami has won India number of matches in the last few years and has been our primary bowler with Jasprit Bumrah when it comes to making an impact in games in Test cricket.
"If people can overlook that...I honestly don't even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people and neither does Shami and neither does anyone else in the team," the Indian skipper said.
(With PTI inputs)
