After tormenting bowlers for a little more than a decade, Indian batting legend Virender Sehwag has taken to social media with a vengeance.

Doing away with robotic, carefully constructed congratulatory messages, India’s first triple-centurion has endeared himself with rustic humour, some of which have been sly digs at his fellow cricketers. He doesn’t shy away from taking issues head-on either, as columnist Shobha De and English talkshow host Piers Morgan found out.

Here, Sehwag wishes former Pakistani spin wizard Saqlain Mushtaq a happy birthday with a tweet. Predictably, Sehwag poked fun at the off-spinner, using a video from the Multan Test of 2004, a match where he brought up his maiden triple-hundred with a huge six off the Pakistan bowler. It was Saqlain’s birthday too. And he reacted to Sehwag’s tweet gracefully.

For the ones who understand Hindi, Sehwag has been the Santa Claus of Twitter of sorts. He is a gift that keeps on giving.

Not all of Sehwag’s wishes have been box-office material though. There are misses too, like this wish to two-time World Cup-winning Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

Jingoism hits fever pitch on occasions but his support cuts across all sports. The wordplay is an ever-present feature, though.