The new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicks off on Friday with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the tournament. Ahead of the start of the tournament, the organisers revealed a hilarious advertisement featuring Rohit Sharma, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul and bollywood actor Suniel Shetty. For the unversed, Shetty is the father in law of Rahul, who is married to the actor’s daughter Athiya Shetty. In the video, Shetty, a Mumbai Indians fan, and Rohit can be seen trolling Rahul.
“Family dinner chal raha hai yaar,” Rohit can be heard as saying in the ad.
Rahul then called addressed Shetty as Papa in the ad, but the actor floored the LSG skipper by saying: “No papa. Jab tak tournament chal raha hai, Sharma ji ka beta, mera beta”.
The hilarious ad has gone viral on social media and clip of the same was shared by Rohit on X (formerly Twitter).
“Family time over @klrahul, ab rivalry time shuru ho gaya hai! @SunielVShetty ab hue humare,” Rohit captioned the video.
Meanwhile, Rohit will play under Hardik Pandya’s captaincy this season after being removed from his role as skipper by Mumbai Indians.
On Wednesday, Hardik and Rohit greeted each other with a hug during the MI’s training session.
Pandya was asked about whether he had the chance to discuss the change in leadership with Rohit and the India all-rounder had a clear answer.
“Yes and No. I haven’t got a lot of time to talk with Rohit because he has been touring. I will definitely catch up when he links up with the team,” Hardik said at the event.
Pandya also said that Rohit will continue to be a guiding force for him during the IPL despite the unexpected change of leadership that the franchise announced ahead of the upcoming season.
“It will not be any different, he will always be there to help me. This team, what it has achieved, it has achieved under him and I just have to carry forward that. He is going to have his hand on my shoulders,” said Pandya in a media interaction.
“We respect fans but we focus on the sport and what is required. I focus on the controllables, fans have every right and I respect their opinion,” he replied when asked about the fans’ outrage at Rohit’s removal.
