Cricket fans on social media were in stitches on Monday, 24 February, after hearing US President Donald Trump pronounce the name of one of the sport’s most famous players.
Trump was reading a speech from a teleprompter at the brand new 110,000-seater Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad when he stumbled across the name of Sachin Tendulkar, who captained India to victory in the Cricket World Cup in 2011.
Something about Donald Trump's pronunciation of Sachin Tendulkar tells me he isn't a huge cricket fan pic.twitter.com/stFhq46MLx
— Andy Silke (@andysilke) February 24, 2020
Trump overdid the pronunciation and it came out as “Soo-chin Tendlekerr” and prompted an immediate reaction on Twitter and other social media.
2️⃣ 0️⃣ 0️⃣ *#OnThisDay 🔟 years ago, Sachin Tendulkar rewrote history books, becoming the first double centurion in men's ODI cricket. 🙌
— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2020
Since then, there have been 7️⃣ more double tons in the format. pic.twitter.com/FdrCZAGWpU
His mangled rendition of the current captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli’s surname also produced fits of virtual laughter on the internet.
Donald Trump just called Sachin Tendulkar as "Soo Chin tendulkar"
— Darpit Kunder (@darpit_kunder) February 24, 2020
LMAO😂
A short while later his host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accidentally retaliated by pronouncing the US President’s name as “Doland Trump”.
Trump calls Sachin Tendulkar as Suchin Tendulkar
— Arjun Ramakrishnan (@aju000) February 24, 2020
Mod iji calls Donald Trump as Doland Trump.
Modiji 1 - 0 Trump#TrumpModiMeet #TrumpInIndia #TrumpVisitIndia
pic.twitter.com/iVxt54nH9Q
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli to you and me.
— Tiisetso Malepa (@TiisetsoMalepa) February 24, 2020
To POTUS Donald Trump it is.....Soochin Tendulkar and Viraut Kohlee.#TrumpIndiaVisit
Trump and the First Lady, Melania, are on their first state visit to India and one of his tasks was to be the guest of honour at the formal opening of the US$100 million stadium, which will be the biggest cricket venue in the world.
Indians are obsessed with cricket and the new stadium in Gujarat - where Modi was chief minister until 2014 - is expected to host Test cricket but will not host an Indian Premier League team because the Gujarat Lions were banned after the team was linked to illegal betting.
