With just a few days before to go before India and Pakistan face each other at the 2019 world cup, there’s no dearth of unfriendly banter from supporters across the aisle. And this time, commercials – better known as advertisements – have taken centre stage in this pitched battle between the two cricket teams.
In this battle of commercials, Star Sports released a fired up version of Mauka Mauka ad, which was countered by Pakistan’s Jazz TV’s dig at Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured and subsequently released by Pakistan, after his fighter jet crash-landed across the LoC.
Calling these commercials ‘cringe-worthy,’ Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza put out a tweet, urging people on both sides of the border not to “hype up or market the match anymore specially with rubbish!”
She received a lot of support from both sides of the border.
For a highly reputed brand like Star Sports, it seems to be the least expected to get embroiled in a debate of this nature.
Star Sport’s, the official broadcaster of ICC World Cup 2019, rolled out an advertisement giving a Father’s Day twist to their ‘Mauka Mauka’ and #CricketKaCrown campaign. In the advertisement, the protagonist announces himself as, “Baap Of Pakistan”.
The advertisement not only hurt sentiments across the border, but also received negative reactions from Indians.
In retaliation, Pakistan aired an advertisement where a man is featured sporting a moustache similar to Varthaman, in an Indian cricket team jersey having a cup of tea – a close resemblance to the video released by the Pakistan Army.
The advertisement has since received a lot of backlash on social media and questions have been raised about the insensitivity of the commercial.
With passions running high on both sides, security will be tight to ensure that friendly rivalry on the field does not turn ugly. The weather forecast shows possibility of rain during and before the game especially in the second-half of the tie. If the game is washed-out both India and Pakistan will share a point each.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)