Mallya’s Tweet on Bhajji: “His Stomach Muscles Seem to Have Made it Large”

Petty just hit a new low as the Royal Challengers Bangalore owner used social networking site to inflict fresh wounds on Harbhajan Singh. Perhaps Vijay Mallya is still stinging from the ad he was forced to recall after he deemed in bad taste not only by Harbhajan Singh but practically all Indian cricket fans. So, was the ‘in the interest of Indian cricket’ statement an eyewash judging by this tweet?

Vijay Mallya

India will miss my good friend and stalwart Bhajji. His stomach muscles seem to have "made it large”. We wish him a speedy recovery

Perhaps the humour is lost in the midst of some kind of warped sense of battle that was threatened to be taken to court seriously at that. But it would seem that even while the IPL franchisee owner is wishing the Indian off spinner well, there is the alluding to the reference of the ad that caused a great deal of flutter.

It may be recalled that Mallya’s UB group had to pull an ad featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian captain, off the air after Harbhajan Singh threatened legal action. The ad shows Dhoni mocking a similar ad made on Harbhajan Singh. And the captain was seen deriding the ad made by a rival liquor group under the garb of surrogate advertising. Eventually even as Mallya protested that the ad was not strong enough to demand being pulling off air or for an apology to be tendered to Harbhajan Singh, or Bhajji as he is also known, the UB Group did pull the ad off air but with the noble sounding words of doing it in the interest of Indian cricket.

However, had the interests of the team and Indian cricket been kept at heart in the first place, the ad should never have been made given that the company has at its disposal resources to hire the best in the business and need not resort to spoof ads that do little for the company that engages in it.

Mallya has not forgotten the negative press on the ad and apparently is finding it hard to let go because he certainly made a reference to the slogan of the rival ad that Harbhajan Singh features in. It seems to serve a dual purpose in conveying the message that twisted humour can have a place even under good intentions, which one Mallya wants attention paid to seems not hard to gauge although perhaps he would have the explanation for it that would absolve the two faced nature of the message.

Harbhajan Singh, meanwhile, has been rendered unavailable for the rest of the Test series in England as well as for the forthcoming ODI series mainly due to an abdominal problem and thereafter possibly his form having to play a part in the selectors’ decision. It will not be easy to digest the provocations as well as the amount of criticism that has come the off spinner’s way since he could not bowl midway through the Trent Bridge Test and although he batted in India’s second innings, his bowling remained on the agenda of every cricket discussion which means the spinner who is two Tests away from 100 Test appearances will have to cop some flak before the next opportunity arrives. Talk about insult with injury.