ugc_banner

'Things happen': Shahid Afridi recalls 2007 T20 WC controversy after Akhtar hit Asif with bat

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 15, 2021, 05:31 PM IST
main img
Photograph:(Twitter)

Story highlights

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has now responded and has denied "aggravating" the situation. In an interview with Samaa TV, Afridi said: "Things happen." 

A controversy had erupted during the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup when Shoaib Akhtar had hit Mohammed Asif with a bat due to which the former pacer was called back from South Africa. Akhtar talked about this incident in his autobiography, Controversially Yours, where he accused Afridi of 'aggravating the situation'.

“Afridi was aggravating the situation and I swung the bat at both of them. Afridi ducked, but Asif couldn’t get out of the way, the bat struck him on his thighs and he collapsed. I had lost it. I had never behaved like this, especially in the dressing room,” wrote Shoaib.

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has now responded and has denied "aggravating" the situation. In an interview with Samaa TV, Afridi said: "Things happen." 

“Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart.”

Afridi also talked about his young days in cricket and how his father wanted him to focus on studies instead of cricket. 

“When I played under 14 and 18, there was only cricket in my all life,” he said.

“I used to sleep in my kit if I had a match the next day because I didn’t want to be late.”

“There was no social media at that time, so people showed my pictures in Dawn and Jang to my father and said his son was indeed up to something good.”