Here Is Why Keralites Are Now Saying Sorry To Maria Sharapova For Something They Did In 2014

For most of the world, Maria Sharapova is known as a tennis player, but for a section of diehard cricket fans, especially for those whom Sachin Tendulkar was God, she is 'that woman who didn't know who Sachin was'.

The incident goes back to 2014, where, in an interaction in a post-match press meet was told that Sachin Tendulkar was in attendance at the match and was asked if she knew who he was. She replied, '"I don't."

Tennis star Maria Sharapova didn't know who Sachin Tendulkar is, and it's riled many Indians http://t.co/8GbuNYeonM pic.twitter.com/zdaT81FHoP

¡ª BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) July 3, 2014

reuters

This however did not go down well with a lot of Indians, who felt that the Russian Tennis star has insulted the God of Cricket.

Sharapova faced the wrath of angry Indian fans

So they literally flooded Sharapova's Facebook page with comments, often just typing the name Sachin, multiple times, in the same manner, in which his name would have been chanted in any ground.

Reuters

A large section of those trolling Sharapova was from Kerala and they were flooding the comments section in Malayalam.

Keralites were particularly offended Sharapova's comment for several reasons -

1, he is the biggest icon in India, and how can you not know him?

2, Sachin has a special bond with Kerala and his both 5-wicket hauls were in Kochi.

3, Sachin was then the co-owner of the Kerala Blaster ISL team, which was also named after him.

BCCL/ File

But after his tweet, in response to the growing international solidarity with the farmers' protest in Delhi, many of those who had then abused Sharapova are having second thoughts on their actions a few years ago and felt that the best way to correct the mistake is to apologize to her.

"Sorry for the comments we made in the past," read one reply among the sea of responses.

¡°Sharapova, you were right about Sachin, that he is not a person of quality that you should know,¡± a social media user commented in Malayalam.

¡°I am sorry, Maria, the legend. We knew Sachin as a player. But we didn¡¯t know him as a person. You were right and sorry for commenting bad on your FB post,¡± a user said. One person offered her shawarma and Kuzhimanthi (a type of biryani) and apologised, saying, ¡°I am the sorry¡±, borrowing words from a Malayalam movie, while another said ¡°One truck load of apologies, sister. We didn¡¯t have your foresightedness. Time proved that you were right.¡±

And Sharapova is naturally confused.

Anyone else got their years confused?! #? pic.twitter.com/ocfC8sanjy

¡ª Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) February 3, 2021

Tendulkar was one of the several celebrities that had extended their support to the government call of #indiatogether in what was seen as an attempt to push back against the international media attention that the farmer's protests have received.