Andrew Flintoff stirs hornet's nest, refuses to recognise Big B on Twitter

The series of tweets started when Bachchan, ecstatic after Virat Kohli's unbeaten 82 runs, took to Twitter to praise the Indian batsman

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff may just have stuck his hand into a hornet’s nest when he claimed, albeit in jest, on Twitter that he did not recognise Bollywood mega-star Amitabh Bachchan.

The series of tweets started when Bachchan, ecstatic after Virat Kohli's unbeaten 82 runs which helped India bag the semi-final berth in the ICC World T20, took to Twitter to praise the Indian batsman.

"T 2188 - VIIIIRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT !! You are simply genius!!," tweeted Bachchan, and in another tweet he added, "T 2188 - @imVkohli you were brilliance times infinity !! Pure genius. Thank you for tonight! And may many more such nights come our way!!"

As Bachchan heaped rich praise on Kohli, Flintoff tweeted, "At this rate @imVkohli will be as good as @root66 one day ! Not sure who @englandcricket will meet in the final now !"

Responding to Flintoff's tweet, Bachchan asked who "Root" was.

Flintoff's cheeky response, however, might have made him an enemy in the eyes of a billion Indians.

Flintoff responded to Bachchan by tweeting "Sorry who's this?"

A user, using a parody handle of Kohli, responded to Flintoff's tweet and wrote: "Visit Madame Tussauds, London. You'll know who's he."

One user, tweeting under the handle "@SirJadeja", referred to Bachan's iconic role in the movie "Shahenshah". He tweeted, "Rishtey Me To Wo Tumhare Baap Lagtey Hain, Naam Hai Shahenshaah". ;) @SrBachchan #IndvsAus."

Of course, this is not the first time that an Indian celebrity or sportsperson has faced such an incident.

Referring to a similar incident involving tennis star Maria Sharapova, one particular user, tweeting under the handle "Sunil- The Cricketer", tweeted: "Flintoff did not recognize Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter. It seems, Maria Sharapova is handling his twitter a/c."

Back in 2014, outraged reactions of Indian fans flooded Twitter and Facebook after a website, tennisworldusa.org, reported that Sharapova had no idea about who cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was.

In November last year, it was British Airways’ turn to face the ire of millions of Sachin fans when it responded to an irate Tendulkar by asking him his full name.  

One twitter user summarised what came the airlines' way that day in his tweet, saying, "One minute silence for the bloke Managing @British_Airways Twitter Account today. Even God can't give him strength as God only draining it."