Asia Cup 2022: “Next time baat ko nation pe mat lena”- Former ACB CEO and Shoaib Akhtar engage in war of words over video of Afghanistan fans vandalizing Sharjah stadium 

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and ex-CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Shafiq Stanikzai engaged in a war of words over a video of Afghan fans vandalizing property at the Sharjah stadium after the two teams' Asia Cup 2022 match on Wednesday, September 7.

Pakistan beat Afghanistan by one wicket in a nail-biting Super 4 encounter. In a match that swung both ways, Pakistan eventually emerged triumphant courtesy of Naseem Shah, who struck two consecutive sixes off left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi in the last over.

Until Shah’s unexpected heroics with the bat, it seemed Afghanistan would pull off an upset. Afghan fans could not digest the defeat and started breaking chairs in the stadium. Some video clips even showed them displaying violent behavior towards Pakistani fans.

An enraged Akhtar took to Twitter and lashed out at Afghan fans for their violent behavior. He wrote:

“This is what Afghan fans are doing. This is what they've done in the past multiple times. This is a game and its supposed to be played and taken in the right spirit.”

Tagging Stanikzai, he added:

“Your crowd & your players both need to learn a few things if you guys want to grow in the sport.”

Stanikzai hit back at the “Rawalpindi Express” and advised him not to question the entire nation over one act. He replied to the tweet and wrote:

“You can’t control the emotions of the crowd and such incidents happened in the world of cricket multiple, you should go ask Kabir Khan, Inzimam Bhai and @iRashidLatif68 how we treated them. Am giving you an advice next time baat ko nation pe Mat lena (Next time don’t talk about the nation).”

Another post from Stanikzai featured an image from the match, showing players from the two nations sharing good camaraderie. He wrote:

“Our motive always been to spread love, that’s why our team earned the respect worldwide.”

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Pakistan clinch Asia Cup final berth with thrilling win over Afghanistan

Pakistan won the toss in Wednesday’s Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 match against Afghanistan and sent the opposition in to bat. Mohammad Nabi’s men were held to 129 for six.

In reply, Pakistan seemed reasonably placed for a win at 87 for three. Shadab Khan (36) and Iftikhar Ahmed (30) added 42 for the fourth wicket to lift the chasing side.

Farooqi (3/31), Fareed Ahmad (3/31) and Rashid Khan (2/25), however, brought Afghanistan back into the contest before Shah’s twin sixes helped Pakistan clinch the contest.