IPL 2020: Kevin Pietersen’s ‘light-hearted’ comment on Khaleel Ahmed ‘faking’ injury sparks Twitter argument
It all started when Pietersen, in a jest, said that Sunirsers Hyderabad left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed might be faking a cramp to avoid bowling to MS Dhoni towards the end of CSK’s chase on Friday.
Saturday was a day of Twitter arguments in cricket. Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen and former KKR Team Director Joy Bhattacharya were involved in an argument on Twitter after Jimmy Neesham and Aakash Chopra's war of words on the popular social media site.
It all started when Pietersen, in a jest, said that Sunrisers Hyderabad left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed might be faking a cramp to avoid bowling to MS Dhoni towards the end of CSK's chase on Friday.
While Pietersen may have made the comment in a light-hearted manner, it did not go down well with former KKR TD Bhattacharya.
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"No KP. No matter what happens, Khaleel was not faking a cramp to avoid bowling his last over. That's unfair," Bhattacharya wrote on Twitter."I have worked years as a television producer. Trained to understand tone. I stand by my words. At best clumsy, at worst, not in good taste," he added.
Pietersen was quick to defend himself by saying that was a light-hearted banter and no negative intentions at all.
"With the greatest respect, Joy, this you have gotten horribly wrong. It was light-hearted banter with absolutely no negative intent whatsoever. Please if you're going to make such a silly comment, at least tag me. That's what people who aren't clumsy & have good taste do!" Pietersen tweeted.
Bhattacharya, however, stood by statement and said that even if it was a joke, it was a comment that could have been avoided.
"I apologize. I would have tagged you had I known it would be such a big deal. I stand by what I say, even if it was intended as humour, implying that a young Indian kid was dodging an important over as he was scared did not work for me. And absolutely, that is a personal call."
Pietersen chose not to escalate the matter further and said, "Have a good day mate."
SRH ended up winning the match against CSK by 7 runs and Khaleel had to complete Bhuvneshwar Kumar's over after the latter walked off with an injury in the 18th over.
