Asia Cup 2022 witnessed one of the most thrilling matches ever played in the tournament on Wednesday night when Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by a slender margin at the Sharjah Cricket stadium. The match also witnessed some extremely heated moments as Pakistan's batter Asif Ali and Afghanistan's fast bowler Fareed Ahmad Malik were involved in an ugly exchange.
The incident occurred in the penultimate over of the match when Fareed Ahmad got rid of the big hitter Asif Ali on the fifth ball to bring Afghanistan into the driver's seat. But things turned ugly when the two players could not control their emotions.
As seen in the video, Fareed displayed an aggressive celebration gesture after getting the important wicket of Ali, who then lost his calm. The batter first pushed Fareed from his elbow before gesturing the bat at him. However, the players intervened and stopped the spat and Ali walked off. The aggression was still not over as a video surfaced where Afghanistan's fans are seen hurling chairs toward Pakistan's fans in the stands after Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 1 wicket.
The complete incident has left Twitter in splits. Former Pakistani seamer Shoaib Akhtar and former Afghanistan chief executive Shafiq Stanikzai have also opened up on the entire incident.
The Rawalpindi Express Akhtar shared a video of Afghani fans throwing chairs on their Pakistani counterparts.
"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. Shafiq Stanikzai your crowd & your players both need to learn a few things if you guys want to grow in the sport," Akhtar tweeted.
To which the former Afghanistan chief executive said, 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 Rashid Latif how we treated them. Am giving you some advice next time baat ko nation pe Mat Lena.
Both also shared their thoughts about Asif Ali and Fareed's dispute. In a video, Akhtar said that it is not the way to behave, Fareed should not have pushed Asif Ali after getting his wicket. He added that it is insolence behaviour towards Ali.
However, Stanikzai shared the video of the post demanding a ban for Ali, saying a bowler "has the right to celebrate but being physical is not acceptable at all".
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Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in the final over by one wicket, courtesy of Naseem Shah's two sixes that sealed the deal.
They are set to face Sri Lanka next on Friday before meeting them in the final on Sunday.
