Shahid Afridi apologises to Gambhir
After the relative lull in the first two matches, the third India-Pakistan ODI saw some sparks with Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi being the main protagonists.
Gambhir, who came at the fall of Sachin Tendulkar, straight drove Afridi for a boundary after which the duo were seen engaged in a war of words. As could be made out from reading their lips, expletives were exchanges between the batsman and the bowler. Gambhir took a single to change ends but there was no let up in the verbal duel.
Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi apologised to Gautam Gambhir for his on-field behaviour. He admitted that he was wrong on his part and also said sorry to Gambhir after the match. Both were involved in a squabble in the 20th over of the Indian innings on Sunday at Kanpur during the third ODI between India and Pakistan.
In a post match interview to a channel, Afridi confessed while replying to commentator Arun Lal that he shouldn’t have done that on the ground and it was his frustration on his teammates that belted out at Gambhir. Afridi clearly said that he was not satisfied with the efforts made by the fielders and that’s why he lost his cool.
Gambhir felt the Pakistani had blocked his path deliberately resulting a slinging match between the two. Umpire Ian Gould intervened in between averting any further flare-up. Gould spoke to both players separately and later to Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik.
“I think people love to see a little aggression of this kind in One-day cricket, isn’t it?” Mahendra Singh Dhoni said at the post match conference.
“At times, aggression trickles out. I said sorry to Gambhir after the incident, these things happen. There was nothing serious about it,” opined Malik.
Malik also made it clear that Match Referee Roshan Mahanama neither called him up nor Afridi after the incident.
