Amir should apologise for heated exchange with Harbhajan: Ajmal

Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal believes that ex-speedster Mohammad Amir should apologise for his heated Twitter exchange with Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, few days back.

The duo’s war of words revolved around 2010 spot-fixing saga, involving Amir, Pakistan’s win over India in the ongoing T20 World Cup and former all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s sixes against Harbhajan.

“Players should treat each other in a nice manner because sports brings people together. I think Amir made a mistake by jumping in that conversation [between Shoaib Akhtar and Harbhajan Singh] and he should apologise for it. It was a discussion between two great cricketers and Amir made the wrong choice by getting involved in it,” said Ajmal while speaking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview.  

The 44-year-old is also pleasantly surprised with Pakistan’s performance in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

“Pakistan team has surprised us with their performance and energy level. If you look at our performance in T20 cricket in the last couple of years, we were in a position where we could not even form a team. Keeping that mind, seeing such a performance was unbelievable and I loved watching them play,” he said.

“We were usually caught in a situation of ifs and buts during my time as a cricketer but this is the first time that we have qualified for the semi-finals in a straight forward manner,” he added.

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He also had a word of advice for in-form Pakistan batter Asif Ali.

“Asif Ali has done well to build his reputation as a finisher but in order to perform consistently he needs to improve some areas of his game, such as playing against the spinners,” he said. “Asif doesn’t have age on his side anymore so he won’t get many opportunities to make a comeback if he isn’t consistent. I hope he grabs this opportunity with both hands.”

He also believes that India’s poor run in the ongoing T20 World Cup was down to the fact that they were ‘overconfident’.

“I think they [India] were overconfident, especially their media. They were thinking about who they will play in the final but now they might not even qualify for the final,” he concluded.