South Africa vs India, 2018: Virender Sehwag engages in twitter banter with PSU bank employees

What's the story?

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag, who is known for his quirky (and controversial) personality on Twitter, found himself in a comic incident on the social media platform yet again.

In his peculiar style, Sehwag compared the umpires officiating the second ODI between South Africa and India with PSU Bank employees, after the former decided to take a 45-minute lunch break even when Virat Kohli's side needed just 2 runs to finish the game.

Here is his tweet regarding the same:

Umpires treating Indian batsmen like PSU Bank treat customers. Lunch ke baad aana #INDvSA

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 4, 2018

In case you didn't know..

The second game of the six-match ODI series between the Proteas and the Men in Blue was a rather quick affair. Since the hosts were bundled up for just 119 in the first innings, the match ended soon as Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan performed clinically to complete the chase.

However, it was prolonged nonetheless because of the baffling decision taken by the on-field umpires. Instead of continuing the game when the visitors needed just two runs to win, they decided to take the lunch break instead.

They were subject to light criticism across social media after the hilarious decision.

Details

While Sehwag used his tweet to add a funny dimension to the incident, some employees from the PSU Bank decided to take his case on the same. Here are a few tweets he got in reply to his post:

With due all respect to Multan ke sultan... PSU bank employee are those who made world record in PMJDY . (Jan dhan yojna ) .. serve the whole country at the time of demonitasation ... U should never use this kind of irresponsible language. Really upset . Never expected from u

— ANKIT VISHNOI (@ankitvis) February 4, 2018

I work in PSU bank. We never ask our customers to come after lunchtime.

— reshmi aneesh (@reshmikarottu) February 5, 2018

Sehwag, who is not known for his reticence, decided to reply to some of the tweets in this manner:

Bura na maan bhai. Tu exception hai. Most Sarkaari banks , infact most sarkaari departments don’t care for the common man. The attitude is like Maai Baap , as if they are doing a favour if they do their job. https://t.co/CRfkuSQCEb

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 5, 2018

You are also an exception. Apart from lunch most others also have the excuse of server kharaab, printer nahi chal raha. Unfortunately hasn’t changed in most sarkaari departments https://t.co/faeYzdyRBy

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 5, 2018

What's next?

India will take on South Africa next in the third ODI of the series that is scheduled for Wednesday (February 7). Cricket fans and pundits across the world would hope that this game is competitive enough to extend beyond lunch by a couple of hours!

Author's take

Sehwag's cheekiness behind the Twitter keyboard or the commentary mike is not surprising anymore. Every cricket fan and expert around the globe is now used to his mischievous banter which in fact, has become his USP now.

However, a couple of the jokes that he has made in the past have not been received well and have lead to a serious backlash in the direction of the 39-year-old. You would hope that the fun-loving individual knows where to draw the line while pulling up his prank-socks so as to avoid attracting unnecessary negativity towards himself and his posts.