England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has denied mocking Indians in tweets, saying that the posts had been “taken out of context”.

Morgan and white-ball vice-captain Jos Buttler were accused of mocking the Indian use of English language in tweets made in 2017 and 2018, which showed the use of the word “sir”.

“I don’t really reflect on it a lot,” Morgan told reporters ahead of England’s white-ball series against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Wednesday.

“If I call somebody ‘sir’ on social media, or anywhere around the world, it’s a sign of admiration and respect.

“If that’s taken out of context there’s nothing I can control or do about it. So I haven’t actually looked into it.”

Screenshots of a message by Buttler in which he says “I always reply sir no1 else like me like you like me” had been shared on Twitter.

In another post, which was also circulating on social media, Morgan includes Buttler in a message which says, “Sir you’re my favourite batsman.” They were allegedly joined by Kolkata Knight Riders’ head coach Brendon McCullum in this conversation.

Buttler and Morgan both feature in the Indian Premier League with the former playing for the Rajasthan Royals and the latter leading KKR.

Fast bowler Ollie Robinson was recently suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from all international cricket pending an investigation into his old racist and sexist tweets dating back to 2012-13.

After that incident, the ECB said it would review players’ social media usage to address past issues and remind them of their responsibilities.