Shoaib Akhtar, former Pakistan pacer had hit his teammate Mohammed Asif with a bat some 14 years ago. The Rawalpindi Express was called back from the 2007 ICC World T20 held in South Africa.
The Mohammad Asif-Shoaib Akhtar spat at the 2007 World T20 has dominated headlines even several years after it happened. In 2007, reports surfaced that the former Pakistan pacer had hit his teammate Mohammed Asif with a bat. The reports were confirmed later and pacer Shoaib Akhtar was eventually called back from the 2007 ICC World T20 in South Africa.
Shoaib Akhtar Was Enraged By Mohammed Asif’s Joke But Shahid Afridi Denies Aggravating The Situation
The incident was been talked about a lot in the past and recently shot up again when Shahid Afridi was asked about it. Shoaib Akhtar had previously talked about the incident in his autobiography, Controversially Yours, where he accused Shahid Afridi of aggravating the situation. Shahid Afridi recently replied in an interview as he denied aggravating the situation.
“Things happen,” Shahid Afridi told Samaa.tv.
“Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart.”
A controversy had erupted during the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup when Shoaib Akhtar had hit Mohammed Asif with a bat due to which the former pacer was called back from South Africa. Saying that he had no hand in the infamous episode, Shahid Afridi said he had only gone to save the situation when he saw the pacer angry.
Shoaib Akhtar Asked By Mohammed Asif To Shut Up About The Spat And Move On
Now, Mohammed Asif has also responded to the incident and has asked Shoaib Akhtar to shut up about the spat. The pacer Mohammed Asif said he has lived off the incident for 13 years and made so many comments about it. He revealed that he called up the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ and told him to move on from it.
“The dressing room spat with Shoaib Akhtar in 2007 was an incident that Shoaib Akhtar has lived off for 13 years. He has made so many comments about it and has kept on bringing it up whenever he can. Well, I had enough, so I called him up recently and told him to shut up about the incident and move on from it. I told him to get over what happened, it’s history now,” Mohammed Asif maintained.
“Instead of talking about that incident in every interview, I told him to talk sense, talk about how he can help young cricketers in Pakistan. One day he’s dreaming of being the Chief Selector, the next day he’s dreaming about being Pakistan’s Head Coach or Chairman PCB, he needs to get back to reality and actually focus on helping young cricketers instead of chatting about something that happened more than 13 years ago,” Asif told Pak Passion.
Mohammad Asif, who last appeared for Pakistan back in 2010 after his involvement in spot-fixing led him to be banned. Though Mohammad Asif’s career was short-lived due to his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal at the Lord’s, he picked 106 wickets from 23 Tests and was somewhat effective in the longest format. Also, in 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is, the speedster picked up 46 and 13 wickets respectively.