Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has found himself under the scanner of criticism after his latest statement on reminding Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir that they are icons didn’t go down well with the fans. It happened after Kohli and Gambhir, the two batting stalwarts, were involved in an ugly spat on Monday. Following this Sehwag called out both the cricketers for their actions and urged them to not set a bad precedent for kids with such behavior.
Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar are getting trolled
“I always say one thing, that these guys are icons of the country. If they do or say anything, millions of kids follow them and probably think ‘If my icon has done this, I would too’. When you’re on the ground, these things don’t look nice. My own kids can lip-read and they very well understand Ben Stokes. So that is when I feel bad. If you’re saying such things, if my kids can read it, others can too and tomorrow they will think that if they (Kohli and Gambhir) can say it, so can I“.
Both Sehwag and Gavaskar had demanded strict punishment for Kohli and Gambhir following their spat, 100 percent fine imposed by the BCCI is not enough, and banning them could limit such altercations in the future.
Gavaskar had said: “My point, do something which will make sure, these things don’t happen again. If it has to you know, like it happened with Harbhajan and Sreesanth 10 years ago, that you have to ask them to maybe step aside for a couple of matches. Make sure you do something that ensures that these things don’t happen and also something that will hurt the team. That’s a stiff one.”
Sehwag’s comments didn’t go down well with the fans, who vented their frustration on Twitter, not only targeting Sehwag but also slamming Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, who along with Viru, appeared in a recent endorsement. Fans are slamming both the former cricketers for their statements.
Check out some of the reactions:
Virender Sehwag on Cricbuzz (on the Kohli-Gambhir spat): "These are the icons of our country. If icons say or do something, lakhs of kids follow them. They think if my icon has done so, it must be right."
Also, @virendersehwag: pic.twitter.com/qyqWS0mgWl
— Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) May 3, 2023
The word that excludes Sehwag from this is “icon”. Kohli is an icon…
— UN_EASH (@Uneash) May 3, 2023
By this logic, Sehwag is definitely not an ‘Icon’
Shayad Bacche IPL nahi dekh rahe TV pe aur isliye Kamla Pasand ka ad dekh kar prabhavit nahi honge aur nahi Lagta ki yeh galat hai
Bhaad mein jaaye fans #IPL2023 #LSGvRCB https://t.co/MpO7kChNv0
— Varun Ramaswamy (@varunramaswamy) May 3, 2023
@virendersehwag is soooo right: kids follow what their icons do. So why advertise for pan masala? https://t.co/0lUygDl80k
— Donald D'Souza (@donaldsvd) May 5, 2023
Sehwag:- हमारे बच्चे देखते है मैच , उनको वेन स्टोक्स का मतलब समझ आता है, तो हमारे आइकॉन को कुछ ऐसा नहीं करना चाहिए ।लोग फॉलो करते है आइकॉन को, वो वही सीखेंगे जो उसका आइकॉन करता है ।
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Same shewag doing ads for pan masala..https://t.co/Ywgade8VbD#ViratKohli #PBKSvMI— Prabhash Karna (@KarnaPrabhash) May 3, 2023
Sehwag and Gavaskar had recently appeared for an advertisement for ‘Kamla Pasand’ last week – aired during an IPL 2023 match – that sent people into utter surprise. Earlier, Bollywood actors including the likes of Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Shahrukh Khan too had appeared in tobacco brand endorsements, which led to its own backlash by the fans.
