Virender Sehwag pokes fun at Suresh Raina over ‘balcony’ row after southpaw's IPL comeback

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag on Saturday took to Twitter to his World Cup-winning teammate Suresh Raina’s leg with a cheeky badinage while recalling year's 'balcony' controversy involving the Chennai Super Kings player. After Raina scored an amazing half-century, Sehwag shared a picture of a hotel balcony and wrote, “This is the difference. Jai Jai Balcony. Mazaak hai, jyada seriously mat lo. (It’s a joke, don’t take it seriously).” The Haryana-born cricketer was referring to the controversy from last year’s IPL in UAE when Suresh Raina left before the tournament commenced, allegedly over a dispute regarding his hotel room with a smaller balcony compared to Dhoni’s. Raina made a mind-blowing comeback after a year gap as he scored 36-ball 54 in the very first match of the season.

Sehwag shared a couple of other memes, one about the Chennai Super Kings’ batting line-up. Sehwag shared the meme after Chennai and Delhi Capitals announced their playing XI post the toss. What caught Sehwag’s attention was players coming in to bat for Chennai at numbers 9, 10, and 11. “Ki karai, yeh batting line-up khatam hi nahi honda (What to do, this batting line-up never ends),” the meme read. 

The 2011 World Cup-winning player was referring to Chennai bowlers Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, and Deepak Chahar, who can also bat if needed. Bravo is considered one of the best all-rounders in T20 cricket and he coming out to bat at number 9, followed by Thakur and Chahar, provided Chennai solid lower-order firepower. Interestingly, neither of the players got a chance to bat in the match. 

Sehwag also shared another meme after English all-rounder Sam Curran took his brother Tom Curran, who plays for Delhi, for a ride in one of the overs when the duo faced each other in the middle of the park. Sehwag's meme was about Sam Curran slamming his brother Tom Curran for boundaries and sixes in the final stages of CSK innings.

CSK vs DC

Chennai lost the match to Delhi by 7 wickets with 8 balls to spare. After scoring 188 in 20 overs, Chennai never looked settled in the game as Delhi openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw started smashing from the word go. Both scored a half-century and forged an important partnership on top of the order. Newly-appointed captain Rishabh Pant came in and finished the game for Delhi, winning his first-ever IPL game as skipper with a boundary.   

(Image Credit: PTI)