Published: Jan 14, 2021, 10:54 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 14, 2021, 10:54 AM (IST)
A Pakistan news channel’s attempt to present the results of a Twitter poll conducted by ICC in which Imran Khan finished at the top ahead of Virat Kohli as breaking news has fallen flat with social media users poking fun at its expense on the microblogging website. The poll saw the game’s global governing body asking fans to vote for their favourite players among the presented options who they think did the best job of elevating his/her individual performance once being appointed as the national team captain.
Apart from Kohli and Imran, South Africa great AB de Villiers and Australia women team captain Meg Lanning were among the four options. There was a close competition with former Pakistan captain and world cup winner Imran eventually polling in 47.3 per cent of the votes.
Current India captain Kohli, widely regarded as the best all-formats batsman to have played the game, finished second with 46.2 per cent of the votes. De Villiers managed 6 per cent of the votes while Lanning received 0.5 per cent.
Kohli, who leads India across formats, has a batting average of 51.29 in ODIs when he hasn’t led India but as captain it shoots up to 73.88.
Imran, who led Pakistan to a famous world cup win in 1992, averaged 25.43 with the bat and 25.53 with the ball in Test cricket when not playing as captain. However, his batting average zoomed to 52.34 and his average with the ball improved to 20.26 in the matches he led.
But ARY News, who broadcast the poll victory as a breaking story, was roasted on Twitter.
BREAKING NEWS
Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) January 13, 2021
Comedy 😂😂 https://t.co/oOASaUXrR5
Wildflower (@Wildflo90119539) January 13, 2021
What even lol🤣 https://t.co/Ktc6XXMt2Z
shiza. (@shizapizzaaaa) January 13, 2021
this is actual news there.😂😂 https://t.co/pPpyUiDvUR
Himanshu (@himanshuexists) January 13, 2021
Beyond embarrassing https://t.co/2pIoPvfpNc
. (@gunsoverbooks) January 13, 2021
I thought Indian media was the worst. Pakis are just proving me wrong time and time again. https://t.co/yLiO190Diy
Adi (@Melbourne_169) January 13, 2021
What nonsense.
Nowadays twitter polls are in news headlines. And Pakistanis are celebrating this like Eid 😂😂😂🤣🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ https://t.co/d2Yf4s9Sqi
Akki & PZ (@AkkianPZ) January 13, 2021
R u serious 😂 https://t.co/3CHaXB9FTp
KALAAM (@Sid7799lala) January 13, 2021
The ‘badi khabar’ all of us were waiting for! https://t.co/rM5EbNvdcq
Loveleen Kaur (@KaurKaur18) January 14, 2021
However, the poll did go viral on the platform with ‘Vote for Kohli ‘becoming one of the top trends on Twitter in India.
