Indian cricketer Suresh Raina claimed that an offensive tweet from his Twitter account, which landed him into the middle of Twitter storm, was apparently put up by his nephew, Cricket Next reported on Friday.
A tweet from Raina’s account following Pakistan’s exit from the World Twenty20 tournament read
“Ek do din late gaye ghar !!!! Woh bhi besharam ki tarah Gaye... Bye bye Pakistan!!!!" (Went home a day or two late!! But dishonourably ... Bye Bye Pakistan).
The tweet was subsequently deleted.
Raina's Indian cricket team was knocked out of the tournament earlier in the week after Pakistan comprehensively beat Australia, and India failed to restrict South Africa’s run rate.
People from India and Pakistan picked up on the tweet and attacked the cricketer for his seemingly unsporting manner.
On Friday, the under fire cricketer claimed that his nephew had managed to figure out how to access his twitter account through the cricketer’s smartphone. He said in a tweet:
"Smart phones r dangerous. Discovered it last night after my nephew posted random tweets. I'm a sportsman and would never disrespect,"
Twitter then descended into a frenzy blowing from condemning Raina for his tweet, to jokes about his nephew after the clarification came. Others yet compared Raina’s tweet to Shahid Afridi’s comment about Indian’s not being “big-hearted.”
A number of twitter hashtags then began to trend from #Rainanephew to #replacemovietitlewithnephew to joke about or discuss the controversey.
Here are some tweets from the episode which continues on Twitter.
Priest @UdaasPriest
Gandhi: Father of the nation. Nargis: Mother of the nation. Sonia Gandhi: Daughter-in-Law of the nation. Suresh Raina: Nephew of the nation.
A muse sing @LoKarloFollow
It's fine Raina called Pakistani team besharam & blamed it on his nephew, but he uses Blackberry, How can he call it a smartphone? OUTRAGE
S S Sodhi @SimpooSir
Bhai Suresh Raina, Twitpic your nephew or it didnt happen. #HaathUpar
Naveed Shah @TheNaveedShah
Suresh Raina tweets calling the Pakistani team "besharam" for losing. Then blames tweet on his nephew. Who is the real besharam here?
Mehran Zaidi @mehranzaidi
Raina's tweet is still better than Afridi's 'Indians are not large-hearted' comment
COMMENTS (54)
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@Baqar:
For a moment I thought you were referring to the "little kids, shiny like pearls" who were to be found in Jannath!
I think we Pakistanis should not make much issue of it anyway. Our cricketers also have a habit of spouting nonsense.
I could understand Suresh frustration. I mean poor guys were expecting to win the cup but rather knocked out earlier than us in the tournament. This is going to hurt them a little. Let us just ignore it and have a laugh.
Expect more short stuff Raina, oh wait you can't can you?
@mr.righty you mentioned chittagong;it was issue between east and west but pakistan; u cant dare to see in our eyesrest assure; awaiting u in islamabad;if you dare; am sure u cant
@Baqar: yeah and i saw even paki players cry..lol:D
Seriously Riana? Like seriously ? Dude,India was knocked out of the tournament BEFORE us. The guy has lost it :)
We should take Raina's and Afridi's clarification at face value. They are high-strung sportsmen and it is possible they say things in the heat of the moment. Often, such statements are misconstrued or exaggerated. They are fundamentally decent blokes carrying the burden and pressure from millions of crazed people. People in the subcontinent just do not see cricket as just another game; they put enormous pressure on the players. The players are not small-minded or petty. You can see from the responses here who are small-minded and petty. And the sad things is these jokers have never gone beyond playing gully cricket, if that.
"Pakistan Besharamon ki Tarah gaye", well that is fine but" India Rotoo bachon ki tarah gaye" we saw your watery eyes against SA...whiny little kids (Mr. moderator: if mr.righty's comments cant be moderated, this has to pass)
Raina missing balls even after the tournament is over for India.
Suresh Raina on his part has explained his position thus: "I am sorry for what has happened. I am a sportsman and a professional and I would never belittle an opposition team or player with a comment like that. Nevertheless, I am deleting the tweets made as a prank by my nephew."
Dignified apology and it is up to people to accept to take it or not.
Raina is a good sportsman and a good human being and many players who have played with him in CSK will testify to that.
Raina said the truth !
amazed to see his tweets after he was kicked out of the tournament in super 8 along with his team, even after playing t20s the whole year
Please do take afridi comment in its true context, he said about Indian media when they were criticizing team badly for just one lost. No comparison between two. Above all if Raina has apologies than issue should be closed once for all.
I don't understand people from Pakistan cribbing about the twit. If I am not wrong then Your Boom Boom Booby Afridi had made some really stupid remark about how Pakistanis have bigger heart and how Indians and their media were mean people, well I didnt see you guys come up and talk about sportsmanship or for that matter even on being intelligible.
And what about last week? I saw entire Pakistan dancing on the street at the ouster of India from the tournament even though they as a team were clobbered at the hands of India. Not just your Cricketers majority of your people (not all, there are always some normal guys and girls around) keep making stupid and ridiculous remarks about India or Indians.
Afridi said the media had a small heart, not the entire indian nation.
@mr. righty rightist: Are u bipolar, in one breath you call Raina a blockhead and the next breath you are saying what Raina's tweet is more logical, regardless of what Afridi said, your view about Raina should not swing.
With regards to Islamabad, be our guest, we will be a very good host this time around. We have the complete menu and will serve you hot this time.
That's not smart but totally needless comments. Sports-persons playing at international level not only represent the country but also considered as its ambassadors therefore, BCCI needs to investigate the matter and if Raina is found guilty, a stern warning should be issued to him.
Suresh Raina is the new face of Shining India. India will win the "IPL World Cup" they will also will the "Nehru Cup World Cup" or does any one remember what that used to be? Jeeay Lalit Moodi
I just hope that Raina does not blame his nephew for many other things that will happen in his life, I mean good things.
@Rafi Ka Deewana: Love your comments. Great !!!!!!
I am amazed at the naivety of the fan boys here. Instead of agreeing that such comments are actually shameful, people are trying to justify them.
@Raj,, Too many intellectuals will spoil the politics and elect a bad government. For 30yrs it was communism and now Mamata a dictator. So much for the intellectuals.
I am amazed that the news item did not carry the part of Suresh Raina's apology. It deliberately keeps that component out to create sensation. To err is human! To apologize is more human! To criticize the person after apology is inhuman!
@Raj - USA: If Bengali's are smart, so are Punjabis and the others as we drink Bidis and Cigarettes.
On this note, The English and us are completely opposite. We pee and they pee. Our pee is intake, theirs is . . . you know what.
Smartnephew beats not-so-smartRaina... Who qualifies? Smartphone...
Raina is right for once.
Ban Twitter!
So having alleged affairs with bookies wasn't enough Raina? May be he should get a dope test, might be joining Abdul Rehman for the 12 weeks lay off.
raina in leaving after couple of days later is not same pakistan played semi final indians were left out in cold please stop wasting energy ln playing ipl be better in international arena raina.....
Shahid Afridi has been proven right.
I have thought about this idea many times. I feel sad that someone pre-empted me on 'A kid hacked my account and typed the undesirable comment' :(
raina was rite as long as they win!
@Raj - USA: Nice one ;)
Seems legit.
so?
@Abeer Rehman: ‘Soupy noodles khanay kay hain ya peenay kay hain’
My comment is out of topic but hope people will see the joke. No offence to Bengalis, please.
In bengali they say: Bhath Khabo (Eat rice) Jol Khabo (Eat Water) Batash Khabo (Eat the breeze)
They use "Khabo", generally meaning "eating" for everything. I asked a Bengali why is this so. He had a smart reply. He told me that Bengalis are smart and they know what to do even if they use the same word, whereas others are not so smart and have to be told in detail.
Pakistanis may be very jealous, naive or emotional, but these tweets shows the vile Indian psyche. Indian psyche should be confronted viciously by Pakistan.
Pakistan must make sure it wins every match against them.
Compare the 2 comments though...
Raina said Pakistani team is shameless.
Afridi called the entire India as small hearted.
This proves that Raina was more logical even when he was drunk compared to Afridi when completely sober.
First he was silencing pakistani crowd in pak vs ind match and now this! Lol,no professionalism.
One day the nephew in question will grow up & tell us how his uncle made him a scapegoat #nephewgate
the irony is that he was out to discredit Pakistani team but ended up impaled on his own sword #PoeticJustice
What afridi said was completely true, it has been proved true by this tweet. We need to meet em at Panipat
Can understand anguish of a Kashmiri pandit family................
So what this is reality