Piers Morgan challenges Virender Sehwag, bets Rs 1 million Twitter

New Delhi: The Twitter battle between former India opener Virender Sehwag and England journalist Piers Morgan’s further intensified on Wednesday with the CNN presenter putting a wager on the line that England would win an ODI World Cup before “India win an Olympic Gold” medal. However, he later deleted the tweet after a barrage of messages pointed out the factual error in his tweet and came up an edited version of it with words “an Olympic Gold” replaced by “another Olympic gold medal”. Morgan had initially tweeted, “Hi @virendersehwag, I bet you 1 million rupees to charity that England wins a ODI World Cup before India wins an Olympic Gold. Accept?” He had clearly overlooked (deliberately?) India’s eight gold medals in hockey and shooting gold for Abhinav Bindra at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Later he tweeted, “Hi @virendersehwag, I bet you 1 million rupees to charity that England wins a ODI World Cup before India wins another Olympic Gold. Accept?”

Hi @virendersehwag, I bet you 1 million rupees to charity that England wins a ODI World Cup before India wins another Olympic Gold. Accept?

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 30, 2016

The whole issue started with Morgan’s snide remark on India’s celebration of two Rio Olympics medals which he found over the top. “Country with 1.2 billion people wildly celebrates 2 losing medals. How embarrassing is that?” Morgan had tweeted on August 24.

Country with 1.2 billion people wildly celebrates 2 losing medals. How embarrassing is that? https://t.co/FYSBM7ErAf — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 24, 2016

For this Morgan was trolled on social media by Indian users who pointed out England’s failure to win World Cups in cricket and football (since 1966) – sports that were born in England and had been taken all over the world. Sehwag also highlighted this very fact in his response, “We cherish every small happiness’, But Eng who invented Cricket,&yet2win a WC,still continue to playWC.Embarrassing?” The tweet was re-tweeted close to 20,000 times and nearly 30,000 people liked it.

We cherish every small happiness', But Eng who invented Cricket,&yet2win a WC,still continue to playWC.Embarrassing? https://t.co/0mzP4Ro8H9

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 24, 2016

Morgan didn't hesitate to admit that it was indeed embarrassing but propped up Kevin Pietersen's absence in his defence. “Very embarrassing, Legend. If @KP24 was playing, we’d win the WC. Just as we won T20 WC & he was Man of Series.”  

Very embarrassing, Legend. If @KP24 was playing, we'd win the WC. Just as we won T20 WC & he was Man of Series. https://t.co/50X5YMQSQU — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 24, 2016

Sehwag didn’t just let go there and tweeted, “KP is a legend no doubt,bt wasnt he born in SA,&by ur logic Eng shd hv won 2007WC. Why hv prblm wid our ppl,celbrtng” [sic].

KP is a legend no doubt,bt wasnt he born in SA,&by ur logic Eng shd hv won 2007WC. Why hv prblm wid our ppl,celbrtng https://t.co/ZigCrzVG05

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 24, 2016

It remains to be seen how Sehwag responds to Morgan's Rs 1 million bet but one thing is sure that Viru's won't take it lying down.