Ashwin’s fixing jibe at Gibbs backfires

■ Spinner pulls down tweet after a barrage of criticism

R. Ashwin and Herschelle Gibbs were on Monday involved in a Twitter spat, in which the India off- spinner could not stop himself from taking a match- fixing jibe at the former South African batsman. The TN spinner, however, pulled down the tweet soon after he faced a barrage of criticism.

Promoting a shoe brand on Twitter, Ashwin gushed about its comfort and ability to make running easy and how he ‘ can’t wait to flaunt them’.

Replying to Ashwin, who is not among the fastest on the field in the current Indian set up, Gibbs jokingly tweeted: “Hopefully you will be able to run a bit faster now Ashwin.”

Reacting sharply to the South African’s tweet, Ashwin came out with a loaded tweet.

“Surely not as fast you did mate, unfortunately I wasn’t as blessed as you were. But I was blessed with a wonderfully ethical mind not to fix games which put food on my plate,” Ashwin tweeted.

Gibbs was fined and suspended by Cricket South Africa after admitting his role in a match- fixing scandal in

2001. Caught off guard with not much to say, Gibbs graciously stated it was best to move on from the incident.

“Can’t take a joke I see anyway moving swiftly on,” the South African tweeted.

Realising he may have over- reacted, Ashwin went into damage control mode saying his reply was also a joke.

“I totally believed my reply was a joke too, but look how people and yourself perceived it. I am totally game for this sort of fun mate, we shall dine over this sometime,” he tweeted.