Indian Cricketer Virender Sewag has a big audience of 20 million followers on Twitter, but he still didn’t expect that his post about Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan would draw the attention of so many users. Sewag shared Khan’s interview with US broadcaster MSNBC, in which the PM spoke about infrastructure and how he saw cars bumping on New York's roads.
The interviewer burst into laughing and said: “You don’t sound right now like a prime minister from Pakistan. You sound like a voter from the Bronx, who would complain about the infrastructure”.
You sound like a welder from the Bronx, says the anchor.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 3, 2019
After the pathetic speech in the UN a few days ago , this man seems to be inventing new ways to humiliate himself. pic.twitter.com/vOE4nWhKXI
Commenting on the video, Sewag wrote: "You sound like a welder from the Bronx, says the anchor. After the pathetic speech in the UN a few days ago, this man seems to be inventing new ways to humiliate himself”.
His mistake prompted an unstoppable torrent of comments.
i think you forgot to clean your Ears
— ツ Alpha (@AlphaWorld62) October 4, 2019
😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/MAYbC42iMw
Never thought a day would come when Pakistanis would be schooling Indians on English #Voter
— Dr Farhan K Virk (@FarhanKVirk) October 3, 2019
Users were curious to know what’s wrong with being a welder?
And you somehow thought it would be wise to use "welder" as an insult? You've probably hurt hundreds of thousands of welders across India who make an honest living.
— Athar (@AtharAliKhan) October 3, 2019
I recommend you sit in a corner and think about what you've said.
Some were surprised that Sewag didn’t understand such a simple word.
Should've taken some English classes VS.
— Shahid Raza (@schaheid) October 5, 2019
Others defended Khan, saying Sewag couldn’t criticise either his cricketing skills or his political career.
Whatever you say none of you can match his skills as a player. Then on politics you dont have the credentials to take him head on. He is a sensible leader. Period.
— Ajith Mathew (@ajithm69) October 3, 2019
Yet more users honed their meme skills.
— 🇵🇰 𝙔𝘼𝙎𝙎𝙀𝙍 𝙍𝙊𝙉𝘼𝙇𝘿𝙊 🇧🇷 (@yasserronaldo99) October 5, 2019
Incidentally, this is not the first language gaffe in India-Pakistan ties. Spokesman for the Pakistani Army Asif Ghafoor was inundated with comments after he called Kashmir the jugular *vain* of Pakistan.