New Delhi: A source close to BCCI has said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees are in a spot of bother as two of England players' old tweets resurfaced again. It is being alleged that Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler were mocking the Indian way of speaking English.
The English players started coming under the scanner after a few old tweets of Ollie Robinson resurfaced on social media. Many termed these tweets as 'racist' and 'sexist'. Post this incident, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler's old tweets gained momentum. Both these players were allegedly mocking Indians and their English accent.
Here are some of the contentious tweets by Morgan and Buttler:
Morgan plays for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL while Buttler plays for Rajasthan Royals (RR). After this incident, many Indian fans were visibly unhappy with the two cricketers. The tweets were made in 2017 when both of them were established cricketers.
"KKR and RR will be in a fix as these are players earning from Indian Premier League and as late as 2017 were making fun of how Indians speak English. Now you can be dismissive of these posts but this also speaks about what their general perception about Indians is. It's a tricky terrain but both KKR and Royals have a way out," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The ECB has already banned the English players from participating in the IPL 2021 due to a packed schedule. The BCI source said that an apology is expected from both KKR and RR.
"Firstly, if Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Badale are mindful of their respective franchises' image, a statement of apology from both Morgan and Buttler would suffice. Now with ECB not allowing them for second phase of IPL due to their own commitments, the suspension would count for very little. You are suspending players who are not coming for the second phase. It will be mere posturing," the source said.