The 2007 Pakistan dressing room incident can be considered one of the most controversial incidents. Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar’s cricket career was marred with controversies. The biggest controversy of his career came in Johannesburg as he was involved in an ugly spat with teammate Mohammed Asif.
It was reported that the two batters were involved in a verbal spat and it resulted in Asif being struck by a bat on his left thigh. The ugly episode was later confirmed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as Akhtar was called back from the 2007 T20 World Cup, hosted in South Africa.
In his autobiography, ‘Controversially Yours’, former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar touched that part of his career accusing all-rounder Shahid Afridi of aggravating the situation by siding with Mohammad Asif.
“Afridi was aggravating the situation and I swung the bat at both of them. Afridi ducked, but Asif couldn’t get out of the way, the bat struck him on his thighs and he collapsed. I had lost it. I had never behaved like this, especially in the dressing room,” wrote Shoaib.
In the wake of the comments, Shahid Afridi has now revealed his part of the story. He denied the fact that he aggravated the situation and stated that Mohammad Asif sided with him in a joke which enraged Shoaib Akhtar. The former cricketer also praised Shoaib Akhtar saying that the fast bowler has a beautiful heart.
“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.
People showed my pictures in Dawn and Jang to my father: Shahid Afridi
Further in the interaction, Afridi remembered the early days of his cricket career when cricket was the only thing present in his life. When he was around 14, the former captain recalled that he used to focus just on cricket and used to sleep with his cricket kit next to him.
“There was no social media at that time, so people showed my pictures in Dawn and Jang to my father and said his son was indeed up to something good,” Afridi concluded.
