Hardik Pandya Faces Fans’ Ire For “Disrespectful” Birthday Wish For Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan celebrated his 41st birthday on Monday with wishes pouring in on Twitter from his former teammates and current India cricketers. Among the well-wishers was Hardik Pandya, who in his birthday post tweeted a video of him hitting a six off the bowling Zaheer Khan. The India all-rounder, who recently underwent a lower back surgery, captioned the video: “Happy birthday Zak … Hope you smash it out of the park like I did here.” Soon the comments section was flooded by angry fans who slammed Hardik Pandya for being “disrespectful” and showing no “class”.

Here is Pandya’s birthday wish for Zaheer Khan that left fans fuming:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy birthday Zak ... Hope you smash it out of the park like I did here 🤪😂❤️❤️ <a href="https://twitter.com/ImZaheer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ImZaheer</a> <a href="https://t.co/XghW5UHlBy">pic.twitter.com/XghW5UHlBy</a></p>— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) <a href="https://twitter.com/hardikpandya7/status/1181187448430219264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While many fans spoke of Zaheer Khan’s achievements and his contribution to Indian cricket, others directly attacked Pandya.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That's very disrespectful...</p>— Dilshaad (@ImDilshaad) <a href="https://twitter.com/ImDilshaad/status/1181228313110441985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">Over confidence! Lagta hai coffee ka nasha abhi tak utra nahi.. Respect the legend 😠</p>— Sameeksha💛 (@Maahii_way) <a href="https://twitter.com/Maahii_way/status/1181235428793491457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy birthday <a href="https://twitter.com/ImZaheer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ImZaheer</a> have a great day buddy and thanks for all the memories!</p>&mdash; Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49) <a href="https://twitter.com/GraemeSmith49/status/1181121125595484160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>