Mohammad Kaif trolled for his unique tribute to Nuwan Kulasekara on his retirement

Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Kulasekara decided to hang up his boots in international cricket with immediate effect on Wednesday and it was former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif who got trolled. Reason? The former India batsman linked the 37-year-old Sri Lankan with the final of the 2011 World Cup when the then India captain MS Dhoni hit him for a six to seal the match. The fans did not find Kaif’s tribute to Kulasekara in a good taste.

Kulasekara ended with 199 ODI wickets

Kulasekara, who has been a member of World T20 winning Lankan squad, has also played in three 50 over World Cups to finish as the finalists twice. He played international cricket between 2003 and 2017, taking 313 wickets in all. He also scored five half-centuries in Tests and ODIs combined. Kulasekara’s retirement came just a couple of days before his compatriot Lasith Malinga is set to play his final international match which is against Bangladesh at home on Friday.

Kulasekara was not part of Sri Lanka’s squad in the recently played cricket World Cup. He in fact did not play any competitive game of cricket since March 2018 when he appeared in his last List A game. Kulasekara finished with 199 wickets in ODIs, the format in which he rose to the No. 1 spot in 2008.

Kaif said in his tweet that Kulasekara, who could swing the ball both ways and was as effective in death-over bowling as opening, that though the latter was the No.1 bowler at one stage, Indian fans will remember him as one who was whacked for that six in the 2011 World Cup final. The bowler had given away 64 runs in just 8.2 overs on that night at the Wankhede Stadium as India chased down 274 with six wickets in hand.

The fans hit out at Kaif saying it was the Kulasekara that the same Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh who were in the 2o11 final had struggled to score against in the final of the T20 World Cup in 2014.