‘Play the game and don’t indulge in abuse’: Shahid Afridi to Naveen after LPL spat

Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan cricketer, engaged in a war of words with Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq after a Lanka Premier League match on Monday.

The 21-year-old Naveen and Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir were seen exchanging heated words following Galle Gladiators’ 25-run loss to Kandy Tuskers in the sixth match of the inaugural season.

Munaf Patel, the former Indian pacer, and others on the field tried to stop Naveen from indulging in the incident but the aggressive Afghan went on. With players’ and umpires’ intervention, both were separated but the real scene came to light when Afridi’s expressions changed from smiling to enraged when Naveen came in front of him.

‘Kya hua?‘ Afridi asked when he was shaking hands with the Afghan’s team.

Things getting heated at the end of the Kandy Tuskers and Galle Gladiators Lanka Premier League match between Shahid Afridi and Afghanistan’s 21 year-old Naveen-ul-Haq. “Son I was scoring 100s in international cricket before you were born” #LPL2020 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/eDfg1ecSi2

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) November 30, 2020

On Tuesday, the 40-year-old swashbuckling all-rounder took to social media.

“My advise to the young player was simple, play the game and don’t indulge in abusive talk. I have friends in Afghanistan team and we have very cordial relations. Respect for teammates and opponents is the basic spirit of the game,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.

My advise to the young player was simple, play the game and don’t indulge in abusive talk. I have friends in Afghanistan team and we have very cordial relations. Respect for teammates and opponents is the basic spirit of the game. https://t.co/LlVzsfHDEQ

— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) December 1, 2020

Kandy Tuskers had put 196 runs on board with the help of Brendan Taylor. In reply, Gladiators fell short of 25 runs despite Danushka Gunathilaka’s knock of 82 off 53 balls.

Interestingly, Munaf returned to competitive cricket with his debut for Kandy Tuskers on Monday and picked up his first wicket in T20 cricket since the 2017 Indian Premier League.