Matthew Hayden responds to Sehwag's babysitting ad
What's the story?
Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has replied to Star Sports' ad - starring Virender Sehwag babysitting a bunch of kids - by asking him not to take Australia for a joke ahead of a much-awaited India-Australia series. Hayden also reminded Sehwag that it is the Aussies who are presently 'babysitting' the World Cup trophy.
In case you didn't know...
The recently concluded India tour of Australia saw a host of banters from either side, especially from both teams' wicket-keepers - Tim Paine and Rishabh Pant.
During one such act of mockery, Paine asked Pant while he was at the batting crease, "Do you babysit? I can take my wife to the movies while you watch the kids." In reply, the young Indian sledged Paine, asking his teammates whether they had ever heard of the word 'temporary captain' in the game of cricket.
The heart of the matter
In the build-up to another limited-overs series, Virender Sehwag was seen in a commercial holding babies wearing the Australian jersey and reminding the viewers that the Indians would take good care of the visitors. In the advertisement, the former Indian opener affirms:
"Jab hum Australia gaye the, toh unhone poocha tha babysitting karoge? Humne kahaa sabke sab aajaao. Zaroor karenge." (When we went to Australia, they asked us if we could babysit. We say, all of you come home. We will most certainly do so.)
In reply, Matthew Hayden wrote in his tweet:
"#bewarned. Never take the Aussies for a joke Viru Boy, just remember who's babysitting the #worldcup trophy"
What's next?
Hayden might be right to an extent, as the Aussies outclassed Sri Lanka in their latest bi-lateral series, after having suffered a few disastrous losses at the hands of India. The forthcoming series is sure to test both the teams' personnel, team balance and how each of them plays under crunch situations.
The series meanwhile, is scheduled to commence on 24 February at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. The game would be the first of two T20Is, that is to be followed with five ODIs.