'Find better ways to hype...': Indian fans left fuming as England's Barmy Army take a shot at Kohli in 'Ashes' tweet
It wasn't just the Australians who were the target of the Barmy Army's online banter.
The Barmy Army were in full voice for much of Day 2 of the first Ashes Test as England kept the pressure on Australia after extraordinarily declaring on 393/8 at the end of the first day. They could be heard chanting away for their favourite home players and giving some stick to the Australians and they made their presence felt on social media as well.
On the online platform, though, it wasn't just the Australians who were at the receiving end of their banter. They put out a tweet to commemorate Moeen Ali bowling his first over of the match. Moeen has come out retirement to play in the Ashes this year and the Barmy Army in the tweet put a GIF of him getting former India captain Virat Kohli out in a Test match while saying "Mo back with the red ball in hand".
ALSO READ: Pressure on Rohit; Pujara to be dropped?: Jaffer names player ‘who needs to be part’ of India vs West Indies Tests
While many fans appreciated the tongue-in-cheek nature of the tweet, it was not the case for some.
The clip in that GIF is from the second Test of England's tour of India in 2021 at the Chepauk Stadium. Moeen had got Kohli, who was captain of the team at the time, out for a five-ball duck. Rohit Sharma's masterful 161 got India to a score of 329 batting first after which England were all out for 134. India were buoyed by a century from Ravichandran Ashwin in their second innings and set a target of 482 for England to chase. The visitors ended up folding for 164 runs and India won by 317 runs.
Moeen had come out of retirement after an injury to England's primary spinner Jack Leach led to the latter being unavailable for the series. Moeen had smashed 18 runs off 17 balls during England's innings and then bowled 29 overs for two wickets and 129 runs. While England were on top for much of the day, Australia clawed their way back thanks to an unbeaten 91-run stand for the sixth wicket between Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey. The two batters saw Australia through to stumps trailing England by just 82 runs after they were 148/4 at one point. Khawaja will start Day 3 on 126 off 279 balls, having scored his 15th Test century and his first in England. Carey, meanwhile, is on 52 off 80 balls.
