Sparring on Twitter, Ashwin punches Gibbs below the belt

New Delhi, February 19 

Ravichandran Ashwin and Herschelle Gibbs had a sharp spat on Twitter, with the provoked Indian going as far as taking a match-fixing jibe at the former South African batsman. Promoting a shoe brand on Twitter, Ashwin gushed about its comfort and ability to make running easy and how he “can’t wait to flaunt them.” Replying to Ashwin, who is not among the fastest on the field in the Indian team, Gibbs jokingly tweeted: “Hopefully you will be able to run a bit faster now Ashwin.” 

Reacting sharply to the innocuous reply from the South African, Ashwin came out with a loaded tweet. “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.

For the record, Gibbs was fined and suspended by Cricket South Africa after admitting his role in a match-fixing scandal in 2001. 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. 

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