New Delhi: Parvez Rasool became the centre of a huge controversy on social media after he was seen chewing gum during the national anthem ceremony ahead of the India-England 1st T20I at Kanpur on Thursday.
The 27-year-old cricketer from Jammu & Kashmir was blamed for not respecting the national anthem, that too on the auspicious day of India’s republic Day.
Days after the unfortunate event, a similar video surfaced, this time former India captain Sourav Ganguly committing the same ‘offence’.
It happened during the India-Australia 2003 World Cup final at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
During the national anthem ceremony, the then India captain was seen chewing gum as the camera moved towards him.
Interestingly, in the video, opposing captain Ricky Ponting was seen spitting chewing gum before the start of Australia’s national anthem.
Here’s the video footage:
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India lost the match by 125 runs after Australia scored a mammoth 359 runs. India were bidding for their second world cup title after 1983.
Source: Zee News