Indian Cricketers Food Bill Goes Viral, Gets Trolled

Five cricketers of Team India, touring in Australia, are caught in a controversy. Rohit Sharma, Rishab Pant, Shubhman Gill, Navdeep Saini and Prithvi Shah have not only been forced to move into isolation for violating the bio-bubble rules but are also being trolled by netizens for ordering and consuming beef.

The cricketers had a sumptuous dinner in a restaurant in Melbourne and a cricket buff, who happened to spot them at the place, offered to pay their bill. Elated over the admiration being shown by the fan, Rishab Pant reportedly hugged the fan, Navaldeep Singh, which was in violation of the biosecurity protocols.

The issue came to light when Navaldeep Singh posted a video on social media of the cricketers sitting on a table behind him at the restaurant and claimed that he had cleared their $118.69 (Rs 6,700) bill.

Further, Singh had also written of a brief interaction with the players when they found out that their bill had been paid, and claimed at the time that Rishabh Pant had “hugged” him.

This revelation sent the Australian media into a tizzy and they tried to overplay the incident. The media falsely claimed that the cricket boards of the two countries were looking into the matter and an investigation had been ordered. However, no such investigation has been ordered by the Indian cricket board.

Sensing that controversy his post has created, the Indian fan, later in the day, posted a clarification on Twitter and rubbished such reports.

“Clarification – Pant never hugged me it was all said in excitement we maintained social distance all thru:) Apologies for miscommunication @BCCI @CricketAus @dailytelegraph,” the Indian fan posted on Twitter.

While this is one aspect of the social media post, there is one other area which has drawn the attention of the netizens. The hardcore fan of Indian Team also posted the bill which revealed that Rohit Sharma and the young cricketers had ordered for a complete non-vegetarian meal.

The bill showed that the cricketers ordered prawns, pork, beef, stir fried beef, bean sauce, fried rice with mushrooms and meat, along with Diet Coke.

The inclusion of beef in the list of items ordered by the cricketers led to heavy trolling of Rohit Sharma, in particular.

It is because, Rohit, an animal lover, indulged in allegedly consuming beef. A few fans shared an old post of the cricketer where he wished his followers Holi. In that post, he not only wished his fans but also animals.

The dinner at the restaurant is likely to put Rohit into trouble ahead of the third test match with Australia. Rohit had been away from the first two tests played with the Australian team as he had to attend his ailing dad.