The fourteenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is all upon us now, meaning there’s a net increase in everyone’s TV watching patterns. Year after year, the IPL breaks record viewership and audience statistics. And given how 2021 largely seems to be a work-from-home year like 2020, that trend is likely to continue. Which has lead to the widespread popularity of hilarious TV ads, like CRED’s popular ‘Angry Rahul Dravid’ campaign.
Most ads aired during the IPL are targeted towards younger cricket-loving audiences; leading to the production of some extremely innovative and comical commercials. For one, CRED, the online-based credit platform, seems to have picked up on that strategy rather comfortably. Their ‘voiceover’ ads, featuring Bollywood celebrities like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, and Bappi Lahiri were a massive hit in the 13th edition.
CRED launches cashback ads featuring angry Rahul Dravid
However, this year, CRED came up with a totally out-of-the-box idea with their ‘Angry Dravid’ promotions. The ads feature actor Jim Sarbh explaining some of the app’s cashback benefits; before doing a classic Family Guy style cutaway featuring legendary Indian batsman Rahul Dravid having an animated breakdown in Bengaluru’s traffic. CRED claims that their lucrative offers are almost as hard to believe as hearing Dravid- known for his calm and composure- having anger issues.
Seeing Dravid proclaim himself as ‘Indranagar ka Gunda’, alongside montages of him spilling coffee and breaking car mirrors has greatly amused fans. Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli also found Dravid’s ‘dark side’ very entertaining. Even the commercial’s director, Ayappa KM, has enjoyed its popularity with fans.
“It was very nice to see the feedback, that somewhere we’ve communicated the dark side of Rahul Dravid that doesn’t even exist!”, Ayappa said in a recent interview.
But Dravid’s former teammate Virender Sehwag claims that he is no stranger to the former’s anger. Over on a recent stint with Cricbuzz Live, Viru revealed an incident where Dravid lashed out at a national teammate. And that teammate happened to be none other than the legendary MS Dhoni!
“Dravid was very angry with Dhoni’s careless batting; nearly changed Dhoni’s style of play”- Virender Sehwag
“I have seen Rahul Dravid angry with players,” Sehwag revealed to Cricbuzz. “When we were in Pakistan and MS Dhoni had just started, he played a shot and got caught at point. Dravid was very angry with him. ‘That’s the way you play? You should finish the game.’ I myself was taken aback by the storm of English from Dravid. I didn’t understand half of it,” Sehwag told on Cricbuzz.
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Dravid’s wrath, Viru further revealed, had such an impact on MSD that he nearly changed his approach to playing. “When MScame into bat next time, I could see he was not hitting shots much. I went to console him. He said he did not want Rahul to scold him again. ‘I will finish the game quietly and go back,’ Dhoni had said,” Sehwag added.