Joke takes nasty turn, Ashwin calls Gibbs a fixer in twitter spat

From a shoe endorsement to a taunt about running fast to match fixing and finally deletion – all these in a span of few minutes as a social media joke took a horrific turn between Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and former South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs that took microblogging site Twitter by storm on Monday afternoon.  

Ashwin, who is not a part of the Indian limited overs side currently in South Africa, took to Twitter to announce his association with a popular merchandise brand, launching a new range of running shoes for sports persons. Seeing the tweet from Ashwin, who is not among the fastest on the field in the current Indian set up, Gibbs jokingly tweeted: "Hopefully you will be able to run a bit faster now Ashwin."

Hey Guys! Just got my hands on the new NIKE React. It’s got a stunning design and the foam technology used makes it light and comfortable to use. Undoubtedly, the best running shoes I’ve stepped into, can’t wait to flaunt them.
#NikeReact #InstantGo #teamNike pic.twitter.com/SmspLkw2dA

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) February 19, 2018

Hopefully you will be able to run a bit faster now ashwin 😂

— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) February 19, 2018

However, Gibbs’ innocuous joke was not taken lightly by India’s premiere off-spinner, who came up with a sharp reply, bringing back the scarred memories of the match fixing saga involving top South African cricketers back in 2000.

"Surely not as fast you did mate, unfortunately I wasn’t as blessed as you were. But I was blessed with a wonderfully ethical mind not to fix games which put food on my plate," Ashwin tweeted.

Here you go pic.twitter.com/0t8HxRdH1h

— Aakash (@PUNchayati) February 19, 2018

Gibbs was fined and suspended by Cricket South Africa after admitting his role in a match-fixing scandal. He was caught in the infamous match fixing scandal involving former South Africa captain Hansi Cronje, who reportedly offered him $15,000 to score ‘less than 20 runs’ in the 3rd One-Day International against India in 2000.

Caught off guard with not much to say, Gibbs graciously stated it was best to move on from the incident.

"Can’t take a joke I see anyway moving swiftly on," the South African tweeted.

Can’t take a joke i see😉 anyway moving swiftly on..

— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) February 19, 2018

Realising he may have over-reacted, Ashwin went into damage control mode saying his reply was also a joke.

"I totally believed my reply was a joke too, but look how people and yourself perceived it. I am totally game for this sort of fun mate, we shall dine over this sometime," he tweeted.

I totally believed my reply was a joke too, but look how people and yourself perceived it. I am totally game for this sort of fun mate, we shall dine over this sometime.😂 https://t.co/Z7YdXQnxeD

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) February 19, 2018