Shahid Afridi, Javed Miandad end bitter war of words with a hug

Karachi: Putting behind a bitter war of words, Pakistan’s former captains Javed Miandad and Shahid Afridi on Saturday ended the ugly feud which erupted after the former accused the latter of fixing matches. “Things are said in the heat of the moment and I also said some inappropriate things in the heat of the moment. I take them back,” Miandad said referring to his allegations that Afridi had fixed matches for money. Afridi also apologised to Miandad on air stating he had always considered him his elder.  

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  “What Javed bhai said caused me and my family pain but I also understand now what I said about him was not warranted and would have hurt him and I say sorry to him for that,” Afridi said. Both hugged each other to finally signal the end of their dispute which had all the potential of embarrassing Pakistan cricket with a fresh controversy about fixing allegations. The bitterness between the two was resolved when the two met each other in Karachi after mediation by close relatives and friends. MQM MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali and Afridi’s uncle, Iqbal played a major role in sorting out the differences between the two former captains. Pakistan’s former captain, Wasim Akram who had been pushing both to settle their differences, said sense had finally prevailed. “I am so happy they have sorted out things and it is the sensible thing to do. They were people who came on channels and wanted this controversy to go further without realising how much damage it was doing to our cricket image,” Wasim said. “Things have been sorted out. Afridi is like Miandad’s younger brother. And Afridi also respects Miandad a lot. It was not such a big deal as made out in the media,” Iqbal Muhammad Ali told PTI.