On Wednesday, the entire country of Pakistan went into a jubilatory mood after Pakistan Prime Minister and former captain Imran Khan emerged victorious in a Twitter poll conducted by International Cricket Council (ICC) to decide the greatest player as captain.
The ICC had carried out a poll on micro-blogging site Twitter on Tuesday to decide who is the best cricketer as a captain. The ICC poll included three legendary players and a Pakistani cricketer. The three legends included in the poll were Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli, South Africa captain AB de Villiers, Australia women’s cricket team skipper Meg Lanning. Pakistan’s former captain and current Prime Minister Imran Khan was also included in the poll by the ICC.
Even though Indian skipper Virat Kohli was way ahead in the polls till the last stages, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who during his days played some cricket, emerged at the top of the poll after patriotic Pakistanis jumped in by the thousands to vote for Imran Khan to save him from another international humiliation.
Amusingly, following the victory of Pakistan PM Imran Khan in a Twitter poll, Pakistanis are now rejoicing over the victory and nationwide celebrations have begun to cheer for their beloved PM Imran Khan.
Interestingly, the victory of Imran Khan in a Twitter poll has now taken a political turn after Imran Khan’s political party ‘Tehreek-e-Insaf’ took to Twitter to depict as some sort of political win for the Prime Minister Khan and claimed that, “Once a leader, always a leader”.
The victory celebrations did not stop there. Zartaj Gul Wazir, Minister of State for Climate Change, did not miss the opportunity to celebrate PM Imran Khan’s victory in the Twitter poll. She said Imran Khan was the greatest cricketer and skipper to emerge from the sub continent.
Several high-profile Pakistanis too descended on Twitter to make merry of Imran Khan ‘majestic’ achievement of winning a Twitter poll carried out by the ICC.
Not just Pakistani establishment, even the media in Pakistan cheered up for Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s victory in a Twitter poll.
Congratulations Prime Minister Imran Khan, no one can defeat you. Not even Virat Kohli. Pakistan Zindabad ❤️🇵🇰💪#PakistanShocksIndia pic.twitter.com/cBdQIfbJP7
— SanamJamali (@Sanamjamali6) January 13, 2021
It is pertinent to note that Pakistan media had earlier run a campaign to influence the Twitter poll so that former Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan, who is now the Prime Minister of the country, did not lose in the poll against Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli. TV channels in Pakistan were reportedly urging people to vote for their PM.
Indian Muslims, opposition party members join Pakistani bots to secure win for Imran Khan
Earlier in the day, former Pakistan captain Imran Khan won a Twitter poll ran by ICC to decide who was the best player as a captain. After over 5,00,000 votes cast, the poll went towards a nail-biting finish between Virat Kohli and Imran Khan. In the end, with the massive backing by the Pakistani state and its media’s nationwide campaign, surprisingly just for a Twitter poll, former Pakistan captain took a slender leader to emerge victorious in the ICC poll.
In the poll, Virat Kohli had 46.2 per cent of the vote while Imran Khan received 47.3 percent of the total 5,36,346 votes. Meanwhile, AB de Villiers received only seven percent of the vote while Australian women’s team captain Meg Lanning unfortunately received only one percent.
As Imran Khan trailed in the initial stages, the Pakistani establishment got triggered and resorted to cheap tricks of employing massive state-sponsored social media groups to influence the poll. Soon, votes started to pour in favour of former Pakistan captain Imran Khan. Pakistani bots and social media users, who perhaps have no idea how voting in real life feels like, enthusiastically voted on a Twitter poll like never before.
It seemed like the Inter-Services Public Relations, the propaganda arm of the Pakistan Armed forces, did not want their Prime Minister to humiliatingly lose to Indian yet again and arranged for some votes on Twitter to make sure that he wins the Twitter poll at least.
Shockingly, not just Pakistani Twitter accounts and bots managed by the Inter-Services Public Relations, several Indians also voted in favour of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Twitter poll. The ‘Team Baan’, which indulges in mass rigging of Twitter polls with the help of bots and often resort to posting abusive rants on social media against Hindus and BJP supporters, unsurprisingly campaigned on behalf of Imran Khan and voted for Pakistan Prime Minister Khan in the Twitter poll ran by the ICC.
