Kambli, known for or his flashy stroke-play and flamboyant lifestyle, later clarified his stand by tweeting that he never meant to criticize Sanju Samson.Mumbai: Former cricketer Vinod Kambli has been embroiled in yet another controversy, and his latest target is Keralite Sanju Samson, who has impressed cricket pundits and fans alike with a string of stunning performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
Playing for Rajasthan Royals, Sanju currently holds the Orange Cap for the leading run-getter in the league with 239 runs from 6 games, and foreign TV commentators have been heaping praises on the talented youngster using chosen adjectives. That did not go down well with Kambli as he felt the men behind the mic were making too much of the Kerala lad.
Never one to hold back, especially with words, Kambli took to Twitter to express his feelings, causing a storm on the microblogging site. Soon after Sunday’s Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians match, the southpaw tweeted: “The amount of talking going on by the Commentators about Sanju Samson about his domestic season and IPL season like they don’t have anything else to talk about. So boring (sic).”
The tweet triggered a furore on social media among Malayali cricket fans, who once subjected tennis star Maria Sharapova to brutal trolling for saying in an interview that she didn’t know who Sachin Tendulkar was. But this time around it was not mere trolling, as they argued with statistics and valid points to prove the Mumbaikar wrong.
“Mr. Kambli, Sanju is wearing an Orange Cap now in IPL, hence they speak about him. It would have been great if you were able to speak with your bat like your partner Sachin years back instead of being jealous to new talents (sic),” tweeted a fan, taking a dig at the 46-year-old who failed to live up to the expectations in 17 Tests and 104 One-Day Internationals, despite being hailed as the next big thing in Indian cricket.
But such responses did not deter Kambli from airing his opinions as he further challenged the youngster to perform better and hold the Orange Cap till the end of season.
Kambli, known for his flashy stroke-play and flamboyant lifestyle, later clarified his stand by tweeting: “My friend, when did I criticize Mr Samson. You people are only putting words in your mouth that I have been criticising him. Not a single tweet of mine has criticized him in fact I’ve challenged him to do well. So get your act right.”
He also shared the overall statistics of the 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman and blocked some of the tweeps who used scathing words against him to drive home their points.
Kambli himself put an end to his war of words with Sanju’s supporters by tweeting that he was logging out to attend the birthday party of Sachin.
Read more: IPL
