Barmy army distances itself from the tasteless jokes which featured on the Wankhede scoreboard

The Wankhede Stadium was almost packed to its capacity as spectators continued to throng the venue to witness the fourth Test between India and England which concluded recently. The city was hosting a Test after three years, the last being Tendulkar’s 200th, his farewell game against the West Indies in 2013.

There were around 22000 people in attendance on day three when Kohli was hammering the England bowlers. Fans did whatever they could do in to witness the match. The ones who didn’t get the ticket online or from the windows, got it arranged it in black.

While all these happened, a few erratic people thought of pranks and hijacked the scoreboard at Wankhede for sickening spoof-texting during the Test match. Spectators were invited to send messages in support of their teams that would be displayed on the scoreboard. But on the third day, tasteless jokes started to appear on the giant screen. Reference was made to the shamed English footballer Adam Johnson to politician Nigel Farage and deceased former IRA member Bobby Sands.

‘Lovely to see so many young cricket fans here today! – Adam Johnson,’ read one. The former Manchester City and Sunderland footballer was sent to six years in prison earlier this year as a convicted pedophile. ‘So grateful for my parents to bring me to the Cricket! Great day so far 🙂 – Madeleine McCann,’ read another, referring to the three-year-old girl who went missing on a holiday in Portugal in 2007.

‘I came here in memory of my Father Josef, who loved to watch cricket with me in the basement in our home country, Austria – Elisabeth Fritzl.’ The message referred to the woman who had been kept captive and sexually abused, by her own father for 24 years in Austria.

‘Great to see so many Indian faces… In India! 🙂 C’mon England! – ‘Nigel Farage’ Farage is the UKIP leader and a leading voice for Brexit, which was arguably the biggest political turnaround of 2016. ‘Great to see the hunger for Test cricket in Mumbai – Bobby Sands.’ It drew reference to the IRA member who died in 1981. Even Stevie Wonder made an appearance: ‘Pleasure watching Kohli bat. You have to see it to believe it – S. Wonder.’

The Barmy Army, the official fans troops of the England cricket team, and condemned the prank.

“It’s a no-go area. It’s a very sick thing to do. We’re 99 percent certain that it is not anybody connected with us. If it was, we would not react well to that in terms of their membership. I completely condemn the messages,” the supporters’ group managing director Paul Burnham told the BBC.