One of the preferred openers for the Indian cricket team in white-ball matches, Shikhar Dhawan found himself in the news after the southpaw uploaded pictures of him feeding seagulls amid an ongoing bird flu crisis in various parts of the country.

Recently appointed captain of the Delhi team for the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy , Dhawan was in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and decided to take a trip to the holy river Ganges, where he took a boat, went into the waters and started giving away crumbs to the local birds. He then shared the images of his experience with his massive social media following and things started to spiral ever since.

"Happiness is feeding birds," Dhawan captioned his post on the photo and video sharing platform. 

Fans quickly jumped onto Dhawan’s comment section and started trolling him for being ignorant towards a massive health risk.

“Sir aaj kal Bird flu H aisi pics naa upload kro,” wrote @itz_parul_676 on Dhawan’s feed.

On the other hand, the pictures might also have some legal consequences, not for the cricketer but for the boatman who did not stop Dhawan from feeding the birds despite the risks of it.

The District Magistrate (DM) of Varanasi has vowed to take action against the boatmen of the city. City DM Kaushal Raj Sharma has confirmed that he will be taking action on this issue but the Indian cricketer will not be punished. 

"So, these boatmen are being identified and tourists generally are not aware of such things," Sharma was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Sunday. 

"However, it was made clear by the police and the administration to the boatmen that they should not allow the tourists on their boat to feed the birds. Whosoever flouted these rules will be served notice and they will be asked as to why their license should not be canceled... No action will be taken against the tourists,” he added.

Having lost two out of their five matches during the ongoing season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Shikhar Dhawan and his Delhi side are currently on the second spot behind the undefeated Haryana in the Elite Group E of the tournament’s points table. 

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