Ahead of Afghanistan vs Pakistan series, Najam Sethi warns ACB to keep their players’ behaviour in check to avoid a series clash during the match.
Najam Sethi Warns ACB
During Asia Cup 2022, when the two teams met in Sharjah Asif Ali was seen involved in a heated exchange of words with Afghan fast bowler Fareed Ahmad Malik.
Fareed pushed Asif first, which prompted the batsman was seen raised his bat at the speedster in an action of beating, after which the other players and umpires on the field had to intervene.
“I had a chat with Afghanistan officials in Dubai about crowd control and their players’ behaviour. What is a guarantee about managing your fans and fans, because past experiences haven’t been good,” Sethi said.
“We told Afghanistan Board to control their players. Winning and losing is part of the game. We have experience about winning and losing so we can control our emotions, but they are new to international cricket, so they need to keep their players in check,” he added.
During the above-mentioned match, Afghan fans were seen hitting Pakistan fans after the match with chairs as their team lost a close encounter. Pakistan won the match by just 1 wicket and qualified to play the Super Four match 6 against Sri Lanka.
During the match, Pakistan won the toss and opt to bowl where Afghanistan scored 129 runs for 6 wickets loss at the end of the inning. Chasing the target, Pakistan suffered a massive blow after Babar Azam went for a duck.
Naseem Shah in the last over struck back-to-back six in the Fazalhaq Farooqi over and leads the team towards a victory.
“There were two assurances. UAE authorities have made a new plan, in which they will try their best that Pakistan fans and Afghanistan fans won’t sit together,” Sethi said.
“In addition to that, strict action will be taken against rowdiness from people. There will be strict security in Sharjah,” he added.
Pakistan and Afghanistan will play a total of 3 T20I matches between March 25 to March 29 in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah.
