 "Shubman Gill and Shaheen Shah Afridi were involved in a war of words during the third over of India's chase of the 172-run target set by Pakistan. Image credit: Screengrab/SonyLIV")
Shubman Gill and Shaheen Shah Afridi had an on-field showdown during the Asia Cup Super 4s showdown between India and Pakistan on Sunday that was reminiscent of the face-off between Aamer Sohail and Venkatesh Prasad nearly three decades ago.
LIVE | India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup Super 4s match in Dubai
The incident in question took place early during India’s chase of the 172-run target set by Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium – the third over to be specific. Pakistani pacer Afridi had been struck for a six first ball by Abhishek Sharma for the second time in as many meetings against India, but had kept the remainder of the first over tidy.
Afridi conceded two singles in the first three deliveries in his second over, nearly getting rid of Abhishek in the third ball. Just when he was starting to build some pressure, Gill responded with two boundaries in the last three balls of the over.
Gill-Afridi incident reminiscent of famous showdown in 1996
It was in the final delivery of the over in which Gill did a Sohail by pointing towards the direction of the ball after dancing down the track and smashing the ball through extra cover. Things got a bit heated at the centre between the two youngsters, who had both played the U-19 World Cup in 2018, but didn’t get out of hand as action resumed quickly enough.
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Incidentally, Sohail too had dispatched Prasad through the extra cover region during the 1996 World Cup quarter-final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, only to get castled the very next ball – which would prove to be a turning point during Pakistan’s chase of the the 288-run target.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Gill-Afridi incident, however, took place at the end of the third over, after which the left-arm pacer was taken off the attack. Gill would go on to smash 47 off 28 balls, with his opening stand with Abhishek going past 100 inside nine overs, before getting castled by Faheem Ashraf.
It wasn’t the only time things got heated between Indian and Pakistani players though, with Gill’s opening partner Abhishek getting into a war of words with Haris Rauf, also a pacer, in the fifth over, shortly after the Afridi incident.