India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs were involved in a social media war of words on Monday after Ashwin brought up the latter’s match-fixing ban in a Twitter joke that went horribly wrong.

Ashwin sent out a promotional tweet regarding his new Nike cricket shoes, calling them the “best running shoes” he’s used, to which Gibbs jokingly responded that the shoes should help the Indian, a notoriously poor runner between the wickets, run faster.

The off-spinner failed to see the funny side, however, swiftly responding, “Surely not as fast you did mate, unfortunately I wasn’t as blessed as you were. But I was blessed with a wonderfully ethical mind not to fix games which put food on my plate.”

Ashwin was referring to the infamous 2000 Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal, in which Gibbs received a six-month ban for his involvement.

Gibbs deftly moved away, saying, “Can’t take a joke I see”, but not before Ashwin’s reply had gone viral.

The India spinner later took down that tweet amid heavy backlash, although he maintained that he, too, was joking.

Just another day in the wonderfully weird world of cricket.