With most news breaking on social media, the IPL spot fixing scandal was no different. Reactions, both good and bad, flew fast and thick on social networking sites.
Literally within minutes, the Facebook timelines were flooded with shocked and angry statuses. Many of them berated the three Rajasthan Royal players, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan for their alleged involvement; others expressed their indifference, stating that they were not surprised at what had transpired.
Memes likening the trio to Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif (who recently lost an appeal to overturn their ban from cricket after being implicated in a spot-fixing scandal) appeared. Photos of Batman villain, the Joker, inscribed with his quote, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free,” was posted often, pointing out to Sreesanth’s poor form this season.
K Nihal, a cricket crazy software engineer, posted, “And here we were thinking he was just out of form. Apparently that was not the case!”
The Twitterati went to town: a constant flow of tweets from news agency handles and the public ensured that #spotfixing was the top trending hashtag in India.
Raj Kundra (@TheRajKundra) owner of RR tweeted, “Just when IPL was going on so smoothly without controversies I woke up to the news of 3 RR players alleged spot fixing. Investigations r on [sic].”
Others, like Anita Bhogle (@BhogleAnita) said, "'It is our choices, Harry that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities'. Wish our young cricketers had a Dumbledore."
Most sympathised with the captain of RR, Rahul Dravid, one of the most respected and admired players of the game. "Rahul Dravid, as much as the game of cricket, didn’t need to see this from one of his boys. Not now. Not ever. #legend," said actor Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth).
However, the wisecracks weren’t far behind, especially after Delhi Police’s revelations about the towel being used as a signal. @_fakeiplplayer said, “The biggest impact on cricket of this Sreesanth incident is that no bowler will ever bowl with a towel stuck in his pants. #spotfixing.”
A widely re-tweeted one goes, “A towel can change your life: one made Ranbir Kapoor’s career, and another finished Sreesanth’s.” In all, it was a field day for all those who share their opinions online.
