Indian T20 League promo featuring MS Dhoni to be taken down

The Advertisement Standard Council of India (ASCI) has asked the Indian T20 League (ITL) to take down one of the two promos released ahead of the ongoing season. The ad features former Chennai skipper MS Dhoni, who left the captaincy two days ahead of the 15th season. In the video, the former skipper was playing the role of a bus driver. While driving, he stopped the vehicle in the middle of a busy road.

The reason for the stoppage was an ongoing game between two teams in the cash-rich league. This caused a traffic jam in the middle of the busy road. According to the Road Safety Rules, this act is a punishable offense. Meanwhile, coming back to the video, the Ranchi-born player asks his passengers to watch the game in the midst of other people going frenzy.

On the other hand, a traffic cop arrived and asked the three-time ICC Championship-winning skipper to take the vehicle away. However, the 40-year-old turned down saying that the Super Over is going on. Surprisingly, the traffic policeman didn’t mind and carried on with his ride.

Watch the video here

A complaint was filed by Customer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) as the traffic cop doesn’t punish the 90-Test veteran and let him scot free. ASCI, which is voluntary industry body, took notice of the complaint. After this, Consumer Complaints Committee (CCC) watched the ad film with the representatives of the company, which produced the video. Subsequently, the ASCI found out that the advert is violating one of its code of conducts.

The company has accepted the verdict and has written that they will withdraw the advert. Notably, the 350-ODI veteran featured in another advert playing an old man. In that video, he asked family that he has died to avoid talking to anyone during the Indian T20 League.