Having failed to beat Indian in any of their previous attempts in ICC tournaments, Pakistan seem to have resorted to familiar ways even on the cricket field as the skipper of the team made snide remarks about an international conflict between the two nations.
Afridi, who lost the toss against India at the Eden Gardens made controversial statements during the interview on the field soon after the flip of the coin.
Rameez Raja, the commentator who took care of the toss asked the Pakistan captain about his remarks on the crowds in India and the support his team has got from the fans in this World Cup.
But little did he expect the Pakistan skipper to reply with what he actually did.
“It seems you have a bit of fan following here in Mohali,” Raja remarked after Afridi lost the toss in the match against New Zealand.
But Afridi had his own reply waiting and said, “a lot of people are here for Kashmir”.
Before the game at Mohali against New Zealand also, Afridi bought up the fragile issue of Kashmir and remarked that his team has had plenty of fans travel from that particular state to support them.
“Ya, a lot of people, a lot of people are here from Kashmir as well. And I want to thank people of Kolkata, they really support us as well,” Afridi added.
These remarks come as a huge surprise especially with the Kashmir issue, which has been the center of plenty of discussions that have gone wrong between the two nations.
The two nations were at a point of time in a war for the state and it has captured the attention of the youth in the country as well as was exposed in the recent incident at the Jawaharlal National University in New Delhi.
This is not even the first time that the Pakistan fan favorite made such controversial statements angering fans from both countries.
Earlier, Afridi elected to say that his team gets more love in India than in Pakistan, causing a huge rage in both countries with Pakistan fans especially going mad over his statements.
Cricket as a sport is supposed to reduce the tensions between the two nations and remarks like these from a renowned sports personality will only dent the relationship between the citizens of the two nations.
It is the duty of the people representing the country to help solve the problems between the nations but Afridi’s attitude and his love for controversy may just have spoiled any goodwill between the fans of the sport in both the nations.
Surely, with fans from India wanting their team to play Pakistan as much as they can, these controversies will not help the sport or the boards of the respective countries.
Do you think Shahid Afridi crossed the line with his latest statements?