5 Instances when the cricketers were criticised for featuring in controversial commercials

4. MS Dhoni

The former Indian captain MS Dhoni has had a fair share of trouble due to the product endorsements he does for different brands. In the year 2010, he appeared in a controversial advert for McDowell’s, a liquor brand, in which he is seen punching a Harbhajan Singh’s lookalike before mocking him with some ‘witty’ lines. It’s worth mentioning that Harbhajan was appearing in commercials for Royal Stag, a rival brand of McDowell’s, at that point in time. The commercial created a huge controversy and Dhoni had to face a lot of backlash.

In a separate incident, a few years ago, the 37-year-old was seen on the cover of a business magazine, posing as Lord Vishnu – a Hindu god, with the line “God of big deals” written at the bottom of the cover. Although, MS personally refused having posed as Lord Vishnu for the magazine, people were already infuriated to the extent that the then Indian captain was taken to the court and slammed for hurting the religious sentiments of millions of people.

5. Virat Kohli

The current Indian captain makes his second appearance on this list of not-so-lucky people. Virat has been endorsing a lot of products in the last few years, probably more than anyone else in India. That, besides making him more popular, has also made him a ‘meme’ so to speak. He has been severely criticised for spending ‘excessive’ time doing TV commercials, by fans as well as some cricketers, both former and current.

Recently, former Aussie batsman Brad Hodge lashed out at Kohli for his appearance in a Men’s Face-wash advert also featuring his teammate Rishabh Pant. The 44-year-old tweeted, “Amazing what people do for money”, under another tweet that showed Virat and Pant in the commercial. Hodge was slammed by the Indian cricket fans for his comment, forcing him to clarify that he meant no harm and his tweet was taken out of context.