Virat Kohli casually hypes his teammate from the RCB nets after allrounder Venkatesh Iyer uproots a stump: “Venkateshwara, tu toh Allan Donald bana hua hai.” Bangalore is suddenly buzzing about his bowling. Matthew Hayden bequeaths his Mongoose bat to Rahul Tewatia at Gujarat Titans. And the usually grumpy Heinrich Klaasen can’t stop laughing when Nitish Reddy interrupts captain Ishan Kishan with a pithy roast: “Yesterday, I bowled a maiden against you and got your wicket as well!”
Far from the madding cricket grounds, these conversations from IPL franchises’ events sneak into timelines and create the perfect storms, ahead of the season.
Here’s how the social media games of the 10 franchises are shaping up on the eve of Season 19:
Xxx
RCB: ‘Hazlegod’
The excitement was evident with every travel update of ace Aussie bowler Josh Hazelwood – dubbed, ‘The myth, the legend, the Hazlegod’ – was greeted with relief, and some cackling about how it would spread fear in SRH ranks, after last year’s playoff. But even as Kohli was hyping up Iyer, Hazelwood lit up IPL eve. Beyond the Bold-edits, the franchise has used its socials to assist Bangalore Police with PSA messaging against drugs. Devdutt Paddikal says, “Champions don’t chase highs, they chase goals.” Bhuvi adds, “Drugs can knock out your future, faster than a yorker.”
Xxx
RR: Missing Sanju
‘Banter’ reveals undercurrents of tensions in Insta reels. When Yashaswi Jaiswal goes overboard praising Dhruv Jurel for his posture and ‘tagdaa’ batting, Jurel, exiting the nets, says, “Woh cover kar rahaa hai, I wanted to bat before him, but he went in first… I scolded him that I’m waiting for so long… His way of saying sorry.” RR’s socials are also replete with elaborate reels on scenes of “moving on from Sanju (Samson)”, like it’s a breakup. While Ravindra Jadeja is revelling in his return, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is clearly RR’s new face. “Helmet nikalenge tabhi toh dikhenge hum hero,” he says, adjusting his mop.
Xxx
LSG: ‘CSO’ in the house
Lucknow have rolled out aural edits of stumps crashed by yorkers, from Prince Yadav to Mohammed Shami. Rishabh Pant does his usual outrageous shot-making, this time sitting on a chair in a reel, and LSG now have a ‘chief storytelling officer’. But the real cheeky acoustic appropriation? Coach Bharat Arun, a true-blue Chennai man, teaching them how to blow a long whistle with thumb and index finger. Whistle podu (Ekana version).
xxx
GT: All is Gill
There’s Gill, Gill and more Gill. And not much more. Mohammed Siraj teaches 6-ft-7 Jason Holder how to say, “Aava de” and Rashid Khan mulls using the GT thermos to store Zafran tea. But apart from a clever low camera following Holder around like he’s Gulliver, and Hayden’s bequest to Tewatia, it’s just ticket updates in the lead-up.
Xxx
PBKS: Spelling bee
Story continues below this ad
The franchise brings in some much-needed Punjabi flavour this season. First, Arshdeep Singh crowns a soulful Satinder Sartaaj ditty. Then Musheer Khan mouths Panjabi MC’s ‘Mundiya tu bach ke’ as Xavier Bartlett plays the spooked foreigner extra, staring unblinking into the camera, rotating his neck on cue. There’s also a running gag ongoing with RR’s Ravi Bishnoi, where Arshdeep is to spell ‘Czechoslovakia’. He nails it. No fuss. This is after Bishnoi can’t spell G-u-w-a-h-a-t-i. His attempt stops at ‘G-u-w-h.’
Xxx
MI: Early to bed
The franchise has clever reels, where ordinary Mumbaikars keep their galactico stars, humble. Like a traffic cop at a bandobast lecturing Tilak Varma to sleep early. “Match se pehle aat ghanta sone ka.” Or a gully cricketer’s instructions to Bumrah to take 10 wickets, as he says, “Fans ko dadagiri ka haq banta hai.” Or SKY being put through a revision of his ‘Supla shot’, when he gets down on one knee and hits the ball over his shoulder.
Xxx
SRH: Bahubali
Big hitters get slyly sniping in their in-house interactions. Ishan Kishan says, “Travis maarne hi wala hai ball, Abhishek maarne hi wala hai… Ishan phir bhi thoda bohot dimag lagaa leta hai.” Cummins arrives to Bahubali edits; NTR’s Devara and Pushpa remain popular background scores.
Xxx
KKR: ‘Rich uncle’
An early misstep: reels showing female fans as airheads, who explain football’s offside to a KKR player, much to the embarrassment of a boyfriend. Nothing that can’t be corrected. But IPL’s history is evident when Kolkata coach Dwayne Bravo greets Pollard, by bending to touch his feet, Indian-style. He also hilariously calls him “Rich Uncle.”
Xxx
CSK: Dube trains
The Sanju Samson – Thala Dhoni star-worshipping will follow. But in a heart-warming in-house interview with Shivam Dube, host RK, teases out a lovely anecdote. A year before his famous train ride (he slept in the upper berth from 5.30 to 10.30 a.m), that Indian Express first reported, he had made another rail journey. “I was returning from a BPCL tournament wearing a mask and cap. Nobody recognised me but a Gujarati family wanted to discuss marriage arrangements and asked me to shift to the side. I couldn’t stop laughing.”
Xxx
DC: Eye of the tiger
The capital social media posts are themed on a Delhi phrase, “Zyada tiger mat bano.” (Don’t act too smart). But the tiger-motif, besides being a merchandise plushie, is also creatively used in lensman Abner Fernandes-shot profile pictures of team members, using sunlight to cast striped beams on faces. Popular eateries of Delhi are also smartly displayed in their social media leadup.
