Indian blind cricket team captain Ajay Kumar Reddy slams media.
Virender Sehwag's tweets usually make people laugh but the former Indian cricketer would have barely imagined that his congratulatory message for the national blind cricket team would get negative reactions. Even Ajay Kumar Reddy, the blind team's skipper was involved in this issue and on Tuesday he clarified that his comments were misquoted by the media.
The blind cricket team brought smiles on the face of millions of citizens of the country by successfully defending the Blind T20 World Cup title while registering a comprehensive nine-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday. Like other celebrities, Sehwag had hailed the team by tweeting, "Congratulations to our #OtherMenInBlue on winning the T20 World Cup for the Blind. They have lit up smiles for a billion people."
However, this tweet was taken negatively on the micro-blogging site, as some people didn't like the fact that Sehwag called the blind cricket team as 'Other men in blue'. Reddy, who played a stellar role in the final was asked about Sehwag's comment and he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express, “We wear the same blue jersey, represent the same tri-colour and play with equal pride and passion then why term us as ‘other’? It is appreciable that he congratulated us but then we are no others. We too are the men in blue."
After this news went viral, Reddy said that his comments were quoted inappropriately by the media. "I am very upset today. I was very happy to see Viru bhaiya's congratulatory message for us in which he referred us as the 'other men in blue'. But the opposite of what I said was reported in the newspaper. I just want to tell the media that this shouldn't happen again. You all should confirm anything which you report. I am sad because Sehwag bhai is my favourite player and my comment wass misquoted. This time we got really good support, a lot of veteran cricketers congratulated us but this news dampened the spirits," said Reddy in a video message posted on The Cricket Association for the Blind's Twitter account.
Sehwag was quick to post the same video on his profile while tweeting, "Don't be upset Ajay. You &your boys are truly inspiring.Will meet soon. Media,I think u can do better than clickbait.Positive news works.Try."
Having won eight of the nine matches, India were tournament favourites and they lived to their top billing. Needing 198 runs to clinch the title, India chased down the target without much trouble.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan posted a respectable total of 197 for nine on the scoreboard, with Badar Munir smashing 57 off 37 balls including eight boundaries and a six during the way.
For the hosts, Ketan Patel and Md. Jaffar Igbal scalped two wickets each while Sunil R and Reddy chipped in with a wicket each. Man of the Match Prakash Jayaramaiah struck 99 and Reddy scored 43 as the two shared an opening stand of over 100 runs before Reddy was run-out.
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 "Ajay Kumar Reddy and Virender Sehwag")
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