The ex-captain of the England cricket team, Kevin Pietersen decided to go on social media to clarify that referring to Ambati Rayudu as a ‘joker’ on-air was not deliberate but mere banter during the post-match show after Kolkata Knight Riders won eight-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2024 final.
Kevin Pietersen had some fun with his friend, Rayudu who was wearing a new outfit after KKR’s third IPL title.
On a side note, before winning the match for KKR, Rayudu showed up donning orange waistcoat as he supported SRH. Switching it up into blue afterwards on their win made commentators give attention on it.
Pietersen jokingly called him a “joker” while they were still on air. Mayanti Langer mentioned his change of clothes and Pietersen remarked, “At least I haven’t changed. I wore it and I lived it,” pointing at his purple dress.
He also added: “You are always a joker.” Rayudu smiled back and said, “I am supporting both teams; I am supporting good cricket.”
The origin of this online debate was light-hearted humor. Watching all this happen on X, Kevin Pietersen decided to address this issue in order to understand why people were attacking him in the first place.
“C’mon guys! This whole tribalism with/against Indian players on social media should really be slowed down! Take @RayuduAmbati for instance we were just joking around after IPL final and suddenly all these abuses towards Ambati came out of nowhere from that banter. PLEASE stop it?,” wrote the former captain of England cricket team
Although meant as a joke by Rayudu when he switched sides, it instead resulted into negative remarks attracting sentiments from many quarters prompting Pietersen to campaign for a more considerate reaction from the cricket fraternity.
