The “Mr. Bean controversy” between Zimbabwe and Pakistan is showing no signs of ending any time soon as the current President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa joined the fray. After Zimbabwe shocked Pakistan during their World Cup encounter in Perth during the ongoing World T20, the Zimbabwean President took to Twitter to advise Pakistan to send the real Mr. Bean the next time.
After praising the Zimbabwe team for the historic win and congratulating them, the President added, “Next time, send the real Mr. Bean”.
The “Mr. Bean controversy” blew up on Twitter ahead of the Pakistan-Zimbabwe contest as Zimbabwean fans urged their cricket team to take revenge on Pakistan for sending a fake Mr. Bean to Zimbabwe and making a fool out of them.
After Pakistan Cricket shared the schedule of their next match with Pakistan, Zimbabwean cricket fan Ngugi Chasura made the world aware of this controversy when he replied, “As Zimbabweans, we won’t forgive you…you once gave us that Fraud Pak Bean. we will settle the matter tomorrow just pray the rains will save you.”
On being asked about the details of his grievances, Ngugi Chasura tweeted, “They gave us Pak Bean instead of Mr. Bean on one of our local events called agriculture show.”
Pakistani Mr. Bean
Asif Mohammad is a Pakistani citizen who is an alleged look-alike of Rowan Atkinson. Asif Mohammad, supposedly known as Mr. Pak Bean, was called to Zimbabwe in 2016 for some programs where he was supposed to entertain the people. According to reports, the performance by Mr. Bean’s look-alike at the Harare International Conference Centre was a massive flop show, as there was little laughter in the ‘comedy show’. Despite being labelled as ‘Mr. Pak Bean’, he didn’t have any stand-alone act, he performed with other local artists and delivered a very disappointing performance.
According to Ngugi Chasura, this Mr. Paki Bean’s show was charged $10 per ticket and had no value for money as such. He, therefore, wished for the Pakistani cricket team to be defeated in the world T20 championship match against Zimbabwe so that the Pakistanis get a lesson.
Ahead of the contest, the match was dubbed the “Mr. Bean derby” as the news went viral on the internet. Zimbabwe’s President decided to join the fun and after the historic win for his team, decided to tweet a joke on the topic.
In the actual match, Zimbabwe scored 130 for 8 batting first before restricting Pakistan to 129 for 8, earning a hard-fought 1-run victory.