A hush has fallen on Twitter. Ground zero of IPL-gate, the microblogging site is now being avoided by the otherwise Twitter-happy celebs. HT City takes a look at the IPL-related tweeters, who’ve suddenly lost their chirp.
Shah Rukh Khan
Earlier daily tweets: 7-10 Now : Silent since The Income Tax slueths announced that all IPL franchisees would come under scrutiny. SRK, who was otherwise vocal about controversies, is yet to make any statement.
Last tweet: April 19, 5.35pm: “... love u all as they dont say on wirelese, over but not out.”
Lalit Modi
Earlier daily tweets: 10-15 Now: Modi’s tweeting has been erratic for two weeks. Silent from April 12 to 17, Modi returned on April 18 with a flurry of tweets (26 in two days) reassuring people that all was well.
Last tweet: April 19, 1.58pm “Thanks @thevijaymallya for the support..... ”
Shashi Tharoor
Earlier daily tweets: 4-7
Now: Like Modi, Tharoor has gone virtually silent since April 12. Only on April 20, he posted links to his statement in Parliament and supporttharoor.org.
Last tweet: April 20, 12.08pm: “Thank you for all the kind words... Means a great deal.”
Shilpa Shetty
Earlier daily tweets: 10-15
Now: The actress remains mum on the controversy around the Rajasthan Royals. She last acknowledged it on April 20, saying, “IF there is something murky then let the law take its course”. Ever since, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Last tweet: April 23, 1am: “So this is it! its a Mumbai vs Chennai finals...”
Shilpa Shetty
Earlier daily tweets: 10-15
Now: The actress remains mum on the controversy around the Rajasthan Royals. She last acknowledged it on April 20, saying, “IF there is something murky then let the law take its course”. Ever since, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Last tweet: April 23, 1am: “So this is it! its a Mumbai vs Chennai finals...”
Preity Zinta
Earlier daily tweets: 15-20
Now: When the media reported that Zinta’s team, Kings XI Punjab was up for sale, the actress went on a tweeting overdrive, with no less than 10 tweets refuting the news. However, she has been a lot less vociferous now and tweets on things other than IPL.
Last tweet: April 22, 10.30pm : “Looking forward 4 my ad shoot... The dimple is back!”
Who’s buzzing online?
Even as the Indian Premier League draws to a close with a grand final match between Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings, it’s IPLgate that’s got the online world abuzz. According to data released by The Nielsen Company, which measures Online Buzz, taking into account post on message boards, blogs, microblogs etc, the Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor controversy was discussed even more than Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
According to the data however, sentiment against both has been negative. While the Kolkata Knight Riders were the most discussed team online at the start of IPL 3, the honour has now gone to Mumbai Indians. The most discussed players are Sachin, Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid in that order.