The fans may have moved on from the epic India-Pakistan clash at the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy with India sealing a comprehensive win, it seems cricket greats from both sides– swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag and Pakistani batsman Rashid Lateef are not in the mood to douse the simmering fire engaging in a war of words on the social media.
Known for his witty one-liners and sarcasm, it was Sehwag who kick-started the debate after India dealt a meaty blow to the Pakistanis in the group match, defeated their arch-rivals by 124 runs (D/L) to win the rain-interrupted encounter.
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"Pote ke baad Bete. Koi baat nahi Beta, Well tried ! Congratulations Bharat !#BaapBaapHotaHai #INDvPAK," Sehwag tweeted on 4th June, when India beat Pakistan following the routing of Bangladesh in a practice match.
However, Pakistan made a strong comeback against a stronger South Africa and thrashed the Proteas to remain in contention for the semi-final berth.
This gave Lateef an opportunity to take on Sehwag and launched a scathing attack on the Indian batsman in a 15-minute video titled ‘Special response to Sehwag.’
The former Pakistani batter-wicket keeper said: "Sehwag is targeting the entire nation, not just a player or a team. We respect their players and they also respect ours, though Sehwag's remark 'Baap Baap Hota Hai' is not what we expect from a former classy batsman."
Lateef also gave Sehwag a history lesson and said: "All big monuments left to India were by our ancestors, be it Ajmer Sharif or Nizamuddin Sharif or Taj Mahal. I have a bigger family in India than you do.”
The Indian opener wasn't too impressed with Lateef's statements and hit back saying: "A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words," he said on Twitter.
Although, it seems unlikely that this will be the last confrontation between the two cricketing legends especially with a possibility of yet another India-Pakistan encounter, rest assured TV's will be broken on the losing side and the winners will burst crackers but the real fireworks will definitely be on the social media.
