Thiruvananthapuram: They have been hugely offended by Sachin Tendulkar’s tweet on farmers’ protests. So scores of Keralites flooded tennis star Maria Sharapova’s social media pages with messages. But the question is why they were apologising to Maria Sharapova for what Sachin Tendulkar had done. Well for that one has to go down memory lane. In 2015, the Keralites had trolled Maria Sharapova after she had in an interview pleaded ignorance about the cricket icon.
Most messages were apologetic of their previous comments critical of the former World No.1. However, they lashed out at Tendulkar for his tweet. A few others on the other hand invited Sharapova to come to ‘God’s Own Country’ to enjoy its scenic splendour and once the coronavirus pandemic ends.
“Sharapova, you were right about Sachin, that he is not a person of quality that you should know,” a social media user commented in Malayalam. There were hundreds of other messages in the south Indian language.
The 33-year old multiple grand slam winner Wednesday posted a tweet. It said “Anyone else got their years confused?” after her twitter and Facebook page got flooded with comments in Malayalam once again like in 2015.
The netizens were upset with Tendulkar. He along with several Bollywood and other cricket stars rallied around the government in its push back against support from several global celebrities to the farmers’ protests against new farm laws.
“India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation,” Tendulkar had tweeted.
Also read: ‘God of Cricket’ loses respect for comments on farmers’ protests
The tweet of Tendulkar attracted over 2.7 lakh likes. However, it did not go down well with a large number of Twitterati. Scores of Keralites, including his fans, hit out at their ‘God’. They endorsed Sharpova’s earlier remark about him.
Also read: ‘God of Cricket’ loses respect for comments on farmers’ protests
The Russian tennis star had faced the ire of Malayalees in 2015 following her comment. But many have been back on her wall since Wednesday. They are apologising for their ‘crude behaviour’ six years ago. All had a similar pattern of expressing regret to Sharapova for having abused her earlier.
“I am sorry, Maria, the legend. We knew Sachin as a player. But we didn’t know him as a person. You were right and sorry for commenting bad on your FB post,” another user wrote in English.
One person offered her shawarma and mouth watering Kuzhimanthi (a type of biryani) as part of peace offering. The person apologised saying, ‘I am the sorry’, borrowing words from a Malayalam movie. Another user said: “One truck load of apologies, sister. We didn’t have your foresightedness. Time proved that you were right.”