There was nothing meme-y about former India batsman and Kings XI Punjab batting coach Wasim Jaffer‘s Twitter account, but something changed during IPL 2020. And suddenly, he became a cricketing meme lord.

Jaffer’s Twitter timeline was filled with the usual PR-managed tweets from cricketers – birthday wishes, congratulatory messages, the ‘what a performance’ and ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ et al.

But then one day, he came up with this.

And it started.

KXIP saw off Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thriller, and Jaffer found it a perfect occasion to revisit the infamous Ravi Shastri meme, when the India coach, on live television, said “g*ti moo me tha waha pe” – a line best left untranslated. Jaffer exercised subtlety, posting just a screenshot of the Shastri moment without a description – the fans’ imagination went wild, and Jaffer’s stock rocketed up further.

Thereafter, it was a constant stream of crackers, one after the other. When KXIP beat Mumbai Indians to go within reach of a playspot, he posted a famous screenshot from the Will Smith classic The Pursuit of Happyness.

After yet another do-or-die win, and out came Feroz Khan’s ‘Abhi hum zinda hain‘ (I’m still alive) meme.

There was the memester classic of replying to an old tweet; he seemed to have picked it all up pretty fast. Or was he honing the memer inside him all these days? We need answers, Wasim.

He became a star. So much so that, when he tried going back to old ways of diplomatically praising an opposition team, the Twitterverse demanded memes.

So he played along.

And even when KXIP failed to make the playoffs, his meme spree continued.

 

A seasoned memer by now, Jaffer – with the US elections being the hot topic – didn’t let the break in cricketing action affect the volume of his memes … reach, impressions, and all that.

Jaffer, clearly, wasn’t a fan of the new BBL rules as well.

When Pakistan announced a 35-strong squad for their tour to New Zealand.

When Maxwell was going all guns blazing against India in the first ODI in Sydney on Friday, only weeks after a horrendous IPL 2020, in which he failed to clear the ropes even once in 13 matches, he perfectly captured KL Rahul’s mood, something even Maxwell and Jimmy Neesham later joked about.

He’s also had an answer ready for India’s slow over-rate in the first ODI against Australia.

And so, we’ve the biggest find, by far, of IPL 2020 – Wasim Jaffer, the meme lord.

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Kings Xi Punjab Global T20 LeaguesIndian Premier League