The Mohammad Asif-Shoaib Akhtar spat at the 2007 World T20 has dominated headlines even several years after it happened. In 2007, reports had surfaced that Akhtar had hit Asif with a bat. The speedster was then called back from the T20 World Cup.
Previously, Akhtar maintained that he had apologised to Asif but stated that it was former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi, who aggravated the incident. This one of the controversial incidents that is talked about a lot. Recently Shahid Afridi had opened up about the incident.
“Things happen. Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart.” Afridi told Samaa.tv.
Mohammad Asif opens up about the incident
Former Pakistan player Mohammad Asif has now opened up about the incident. He said that he asked Shoaib Akhtar to ‘shut up. While speaking to Pak Passion, Asif revealed that he recently dialled up Akhtar and told him that he needs to “shut up” and “move on” from the incident.
Asif said it’s been more than 13 years since the spat took place but Akhtar keeps talking about it everywhere he goes.
“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. Instead of talking about that incident in every interview, I told him to 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.
