Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are facing heavy criticism just before the start of the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The backlash followed a video featuring South African cricketer David Miller, which was posted on social media.
In the viral video shared on X, Miller was asked to choose his biggest heartbreak in cricket, including the T20 World Cup 2024 final against India. Fans quickly took to social media to call out the video as insensitive to the player.
The video, captioned “Manifesting zero heartbreaks for Miller bhai this season,” began with Miller choosing between IPL final defeats in 2023 and 2014 before moving on to losses suffered with his national team, including last year's T20 World Cup final.
Fans criticised the franchise for putting their own player in such a position.
“Can anyone ever imagine this being done to Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar? No,” one user wrote in response to the post, adding, “IPL teams don't view foreign players as human beings. Once the money has been paid, the foreign players are dancing circus bears on a leash.”
“It was so uncomfortable to watch, I feel sorry for you @DavidMillerSA12. They counted all his failures in front of him, and Miller is looking uncomfortable for sure,” another user wrote.
“The worst IPL franchise, hands down!!” an X user wrote while sharing the post.
Social media users were quick to highlight how insensitive the post was.
“This franchise has crossed the line by using a player’s emotional struggles for clicks. This is exploitation, not entertainment.”
“LSG content hitting new low. Funny thing is their cricket is gonna hit even further lows this season. Losing whatever fan base they built in their first couple of seasons,” another user wrote.
"This is pathetic, to say the least. These are sacred emotions of grief and loss, which Miller has felt in the past. How was this monstrosity approved by the Social Media Team of LSG?" tweeted another.
Fans also questioned why the team would demoralise its star players with such questions instead of uplifting them with engaging content.
Despite widespread criticism, the video remains online even after two days, as of writing this report.
Miller is one of LSG’s key players for the upcoming IPL season. The South African, who was part of Gujarat Titans last season, was bought by Lucknow for Rs 7.5 crore in the mega auction.
The franchise had also broken the all-time record purchase fee for a player in the auction, signing Pant for a whopping Rs 27 crore.
