Twitter is starting a petition to get Lenovo to change its name to Naseem Shah’s ‘Lenevivo’

Naseem Shah is Pakistan’s newest obsession and Pakistanis will stand behind the cricketer even if he mispronounces a word. It’s not Shah who’s wrong, it’s the word. Ban the word, banish it — we’d rather get a petition to change the official pronunciation than let anyone mock him.

Recently, a video from earlier this year featuring the 19-year-old cricketer went viral on Twitter and elicited some mean reactions. The PSL era video, starring Quetta Gladiators’ Shah and Mohammad Nawaz, discussed technology and in it, the former spelled out brand Lenovo and pronounced it as “Lenevivo”.

Indian Twitter users took this as an opportunity to poke fun at him but Pakistani fans are not having it. They are prepared to defend Shah and stood up for him against the bullies.

Lenovo who? It’s Lenevivo or nothing from here on out.

We expect a formal apology from the CEO.

Periodt.

Oops — and he’ll do it again.

In the end, it’s the performance that matters.

To start off with, English is not our first language and the sense of superiority associated with it is the effect of a colonial hangover. Respect should not be tied to anything that unsubstantial. Might we suggest it be tied to performance in the Asia Cup instead?