In the match played on September 2, India's top batsmen could not stand in front of Pakistani bowlers. Apart from Pakistan's bowling, rain, this match was in discussion due to some other reasons. These reasons are related to former Indian cricketer and BJP MP Gautam Gambhir.
Be it showing 'middle finger' towards the audience or the things said about the players of both the countries during the match commentary. Now former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has reacted to Gautam Gambhir's statement.
During the India vs Pakistan match, Gautam Gambhir had said, "When you play for your country, you should keep your friendships outside the field. Having a game face is a must. Friendship should be outside. There should be aggression in the players on both sides.
Gambhir said, "Be as friendly as you want, but only after six-seven hours of the cricket game." These hours are very important because you are not just presenting yourself. You are playing on behalf of more than 100 crore people. During the India-Pakistan cricket match, some such pictures came in which the players of both the countries were seen meeting each other with love.
Such pictures of Virat Kohli have been widely shared on social media. Most people describe these pictures as good sportsmanship. A picture of Shadab Khan tying the shoelaces of Hardik Pandya in the India-Pakistan match was also shared. Without naming anyone, Gambhir says about this, "Nowadays you see that players of two opposing teams will meet each other patting, shaking hands. All this did not happen till a few years ago.
Now what Shahid Afridi said to Pakistani media on this statement of Gambhir is being shared on social media. Shahid Afridi said, "Players from both the countries behave in a friendly manner with each other, this is the best thing." I look at it in a very positive way. When we go to any country, we are also ambassadors of our country there. Relations between India and Pakistan can improve only through cricket. Keep politics aside completely.
On Gautam Gambhir's statement, Shahid Afridi said - "That is his own thinking, my thinking is different." We are cricketers and also ambassadors. We also have fans in the world. There are fans on both sides. I think it would be better if you give a message of love only.
Even though Shahid Afridi is talking about having different views from Gautam Gambhir, there was a clash between these two players on the field too. The year was 2007. Pakistan's Shahid Afridi was bowling in the Kanpur ODI and Gautam Gambhir was in front.
Gambhir hit Afridi for a four and then ran to take a single on the next ball. During this, both of them had a collision and then a heated argument. Later ICC fined Gambhir for physical collision.
On the aggression of players in cricket matches, Afridi said, "There is aggression inside the field. It is not that it does not happen. But there is a life outside the field too and we are ambassadors of our respective countries. The teams of India and Pakistan will once again face each other in the Asia Cup Cricket on Sunday. The match between the two teams on September 2 was washed out due to rain and both the teams had to be satisfied with one point each.
Two days ago a video of Gautam Gambhir went viral on social media. It is believed that this video is from during the Asia Cup match. It could be seen in the video that the crowd is shouting Kohli, Kohli and Gautam Gambhir passing in front shows his middle finger to the crowd.
In body language, it is considered very bad to show someone the middle finger. This is considered an obscene act. Gautam Gambhir was criticized a lot on this video. After this criticism, Gautam Gambhir claimed in a conversation with the media, "There is no truth in what is shown on social media. People show whatever they want to show.
Gambhir claims, “The truth of the viral video is that if someone raises anti-India slogans and speaks about Kashmir, the person in front of you will obviously react. He will not smile and will just walk away. There were two-three Pakistanis who were talking about anti-India and Kashmir. In such a situation, this was my natural reaction. I can't listen to anything against my country. I am not even that kind of person.
Gautam Gambhir's relationship with Virat Kohli is often in discussion. In May this year, the clash between Gambhir and Kohli in the IPL match between Bengaluru and Lucknow had made a lot of headlines. That day, after the match, an angry altercation was seen between Bengaluru player Virat Kohli and Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir.
Both of them were separated from each other by other players of the team and the IPL also fined them. There is a long history of on-field clashes between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. Both have been Ranji players from Delhi but they have faced each other in IPL as captain and player of the opposing team.
The first major clash between these two players is seen in the 2013 IPL when Kohli was the captain of Bengaluru and Gambhir was leading Kolkata. During the match, there was an argument between the two and they also pushed each other.
In 2016, Kolkata scored 183 runs against Bangalore, yet lost the match by 9 wickets. Kohli was in tremendous form that season and more than 900 runs were scored by Kohli. During the 19th over of that match, Gambhir was so frustrated that even after the completion of the run, he hit the ball towards the non-striker where Virat Kohli was standing.
There was an argument between the two once again. During this entire match, the players of both the teams did a lot of sledging against each other.
Also Read: India Squad for ODI World Cup 2023
Give Your Feedback