England capped batsman Ben Duckett found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of abuses from Royal Challengers Bangalore fans after his tweet on the IPL franchise went viral.
The 23-year-old Englishman had posted a tweet on Sunday ahead of the franchise’s IPL campaign opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.
“RCB’s team is a joke,” Duckett had written on Twitter.
RCB’s team is a joke 😰😰 #IPL
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) April 8, 2018
While the intentions of the left-handed batsmen were to complement the franchise for their supreme wealth of talent, it was misinterpreted by the RCB fans on social media.
Duckett had already clarified his intentions an hour after posting the initial tweet with another one.
“A joke is a good thing by the way,” he had written.
A joke is a good thing by the way 👍🏼 https://t.co/PJZc4tkdeO
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) April 8, 2018
The Virat Kohli led franchise went on to suffer a four-wicket loss at the Eden Gardens. By the time Duckett woke up on Monday, his social media page was flooded with angry responses from RCB fans.
Woken up to these and many more horrible messages. Yesterday I referred to RCB as a ‘joke’ meaning they have such a good side with the likes of de kock, de villiers, kohli, McCullum and lots of other world class players. These types of messages are not acceptable. pic.twitter.com/hIqwwCbDtM
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) April 9, 2018
Posting a screenshot of the vile messages he had received from fans overnight, Duckett wrote: “Woken up to these and many more horrible messages. Yesterday I referred to RCB as a ‘joke’ meaning they have such a good side with the likes of De Kock, De Villiers, Kohli, McCullum and lots of other world class players. These types of messages are not acceptable.”
Duckett has played four Tests and three ODIs for England so far in his career. While it is clear from his comment that the tweet was indeed a joke, he does now have first-hand experience of the madness that is the IPL without having participated in it.
