Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was seen jumping and yelling from the stands to celebrate Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) winning the IPL 2025 final against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. Sunak was accompanied by his wife and Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's daughter Akshata Murty.
Before the match kicked off, Sunak had shared a photograph from the stands on X, captioned it "Let's go" and tagged RCB in it.
Although he had not shared further updates after RCB won the IPL final, pictures of him celebrating the team's victory were viral on social media.
'Narayana Murthy sir is not going to like this'
Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty's presence at the IPL final also triggered jokes surrounding Narayana Murthy's possible reaction to them "chilling" on a weekday. The 78-year-old continues to be part of discussions on work-life balance after he famously commented that Indians should work 70 hours a week for the development of the country.
"Narayana Murthy sir is not going to like this, it’s Tuesday, not even the weekend and you’re already chilling," X user Aaraynsh (@aaraynsh) commented on Sunak's post and received close to 4,000 likes.
"If your father-in-law sees you not working 70 hours a week and watching a game instead of, you sure are gonna land in trouble, mate!" added Sudhir (@seriousfunnyguy).
In October 2023, Murthy appeared on the first episode of 3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’ and, in conversation with former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, said that India’s work productivity is among the lowest in the world. To compete with countries like China, India’s youngsters must put in extra hours of work – like Japan and Germany did after World War 2.
He also blamed other issues like corruption in the government and bureaucratic delays, saying: “India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading I don't know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.”
Murthy then shared his request to the young Indian professionals: “So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say, ‘This is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week'." The billionaire added that the youth form the majority of India’s population and must shoulder the responsibility of India’s progress.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
