Xtra Time Web Desk: World Cup-winning cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, took a cheeky dig at his former teammate, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, ahead of the T20 World Cup that will kickstart from June this year. Gambhir shared an advertisement for a company named Britannia on his ‘X’ and requested to let the Indian cricketers play the World Cup without any twist of advertisements. The tweet and promotion of Britannia’s ad looked in the context of Dhoni’s advertisement for a rival biscuit company, Oreo. Earlier, Dhoni did a promotional campaign with Oreo ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023.
Gambhir took to ‘X’ to share Britannia’s advertisement in which 2 of the Indian fans were left bummed after India lost to Australia in the World Cup final on November 19 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. They expressed their disappointment and said that no advertisements should be played, and the focus should be entirely on the Indian stars playing the game.
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“Having played the World Cup and won it, I know the pressure and I know the jubilation too. 140 crore Indians hold their breath…and all that matters is winning the World Cup!!! So, guys don’t bring in any more twists. Don’t let the Ad play. Just let the boys play,” Gambhir captioned the post. The promotional tweet was an indirect and a rather sly dig at Dhoni.
Notably, Dhoni was part of a similar ad campaign ahead of the T20 World Cup in 2022. Dhoni endorsed the biscuit brand in a unique campaign that aimed to recreate the magic of 2011. The campaign, titled #BringBack2011, was designed to spark playful moments among cricket-loving Indians and featured Dhoni alongside his daughter, Ziva Dhoni, who had her first endorsement deal.
In the promotion, Dhoni mentioned that Oreo was launched in 2011, and it proved to be lucky for India as the Dhoni-led side lifted the World Cup in the same year itself on April 2. However, India lost to England in the T20 World Cup in the semi-final. The biscuit company learnt the lesson and, for the ODI World Cup campaign, the tag line mentioned, “matt bol.” Which meant to shun the outside noises and not make any predictions.
“Listen to me, carefully. Let’s not discuss India’s chances in the World Cup. You know what happens when you create so much hype about something?” Dhoni said in the ad video.
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However, India couldn’t lift the coveted trophy, despite winning 10 matches on the trot en route to the final. Gambhir and Dhoni made notable contributions in India’s World Cup winning campaign. In the final against Sri Lanka, Gambhir played a 97-run knock and Dhoni remained unbeaten at 91 to help India lift the cup after 28 years.