The former Pakistan captain had an advice for Mohammed Shami after the Indian pacer posted a tweet quoting Shoaib Akhtar following the T20 World Cup final.
Pakistan endured a five-wicket loss in the final of the T20 World Cup against England on Sunday. The Jos Buttler-led English team restricted Pakistan to 137/8 before chasing the target down with an over to spare; Ben Stokes was the hero of the night for England, as he played a composed knock of 52* in 49 deliveries to guide his team home. With the win, England are now the undisputed white-ball champions as they also currently hold the world title in the fifty-over format.
Following Pakistan’s defeat, the side faced criticism for its poor performance but the country’s former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar also endured sly dig from Indian pacer Mohammed Shami. After Akhtar posted a ‘heartbroken’ emoji after the loss, Shami wrote, “Sorry brother, it’s called Karma.”
Justifiably, the tweet wasn’t received too well in Pakistan media, with national news channel Samaa TV discussing about it at length in the post-match show. The show’s anchor stated that Shami is “not like retired trolls like Sehwag and Harbhajan” as he talked about the tweet, to which Shahid Afridi broke silence.
“Ham log jo cricketers hain, we are ambassadors, role models. Hamaari koshish honi chahiye ki ye sab khatm hona chahiye. Ham ek doosre ke padosi hain. Aisi cheezein nahi honi chahiye jiss se nafrat phaile logo ke beech me. Agar ham hi aisa karenge toh aam aadmi se ham kya ummeed rakhenge. (We are cricketers, we are ambassadors and role models. (We are cricketers, we are ambassadors and role models. We should try to end all of this. We are neighbours. We shouldn’t do things that cultivate hate. If we start doing such things, what can we expect from the common people),” Afridi said.
“Sports se hamaare relationship behetar rahenge. Inke saath ham khelna chahte hain, Pakistan me dekhna chahte hain. (Our relationships improve with sports. We want to play with them, see them play in Pakistan).”
Afridi also had an advice for Shami following his tweet.
“Agar aap retired player ho… tab bhi nahi karna chahiye. Par aap current team se khel rahe ho, avoid karo inn sab cheezo ko. (Even if you are retired, you shouldn’t do this. But you are a part of the current team, you should avoid such things),” said the former Pakistan captain.