Wasim Jaffer posts cryptic Bollywood-themed tweet; hints at key Indian players for 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka

Carrying forward his tradition of sending out cryptic tweets hinting at key players and team combinations, Wasim Jaffer posted a Bollywood-themed tweet on July 19, suggesting three players that must be kept an eye on when India next meets Sri Lanka in the ODI series.

His post shows actors Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan from the iconic Hindi movie ‘Karan Arjun’, while there is also a cut-out of actor Ishan Awasthi, who played Darsheel Safari in the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’, embedded over the Khan duo’s picture. Within moments of Jaffer’s post, Twitter sat down to crack the puzzle and felt it to be related to Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal, and Ishan Kishan.

Notably, each of the three players had an impressive outing in Colombo on Sunday during India’s thumping seven-wicket win over the hosts. Kishan struck a belligerent 42-ball 59 on debut, while Krunal returned with miserly figures of 1/26 from his full quota. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya, who has been away from bowling action after his back injury, returned with a wicket in a five-over spell.

India leads the series 1-0

India had a fairly convincing outing as Shikhar Dhawan notched up a solid half-century after an early 24-ball 43 blitz from Player of the Match Prithvi Shaw to take India to a 1-0 lead. The two teams will meet at the same venue on July 20 for the second fixture of the three-match series.

“All our boys are very mature as well as aggressive. The way they played today was tremendous and I am very happy. The way our spinners bowled, they brought us back, all three spinners, Chahal, Kuldeep and Krunal. It was good to be on the other end and watch Prithvi and Ishan. I was telling them to take it easy actually,” Indian captain Shikhar Dhawan said post-match.

“The way these young boys play in the IPL, they get lots of exposure and they just finished the game in the first 15 overs only. I thought about my hundred but there were not many runs left. When Surya came out to bat, I thought I need to improve my skills,” he added.