Asia Cup 2022: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar and former Afghanistan Cricket Board chief Shafiq Stanikzai were involved in a heated exchange on Twitter after unruly scene broke out between fans of both team in Sharjah.
Pakistan and Afghanistan played out a nail-biting thriller on Wednesday at Sharjah in the Super 4 stage of the ongoing Asia Cup. Naseem Shah hit back-to-back sixes of the first two balls of the final over as Pakistan sealed a one-wicket win to assure themselves a place in the final alongside Sri Lanka. However, after the match came to an end, the Sharjah Cricket Stadium was witness to unsavoury scenes as Afghanistan fans, clearly disappointed with the loss, were seen breaking chairs and assaulting Pakistan fans.
In a video shared by former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, Afghan fans can be seen breaking chairs and then throwing them towards the Pakistan supporters.
“This is what Afghan fans are doing. This is what they’ve done in the past multiple times. This is a game and it’s supposed to be played and taken in the right spirit.@ShafiqStanikzai your crowd & your players both need to learn a few things if you guys want to grow in the sport,” Akhtar wrote in a Twitter post.
Shafiq Stanikzai, who happens to be the former Afghanistan Cricket Board chief, gave a reply to Akhtar, saying nobody can control the emotions of fans and he should not be bringing an entire nation when talking about such a type of incident.
“You can’t control the emotions of the crowd and such incidents happened in the world of cricket multiple, you should go ask Kabir Khan, Inzimam Bhai and @iRashidLatif68 how we treated them. Am giving you an advice next time baat ko nation pe Mat lena,” wrote Stanikzai.
Talking about the match between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the former batted first and posted 129/6 in 20 overs. Chasing 130, Pakistan were cruising at one stage with the score being 87/3 in the 16th over. However, Pakistan collapsed from there on, and they went to 118/9 in the penultimate over.
In the final over, they needed 11 for a victory, and it was Naseem Shah who turned out to be the hero for Pakistan.
After the win that sealed their berth in the Asia Cup final, Pakistan players also celebrated in an ecstatic fashion and there were some wild scenes that unfolded in Sharjah.
