Shoaib Akhtar lauds Afghanistan for T20 series victory over Pakistan

Former Pakistan fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, congratulated Afghanistan on their victory over Pakistan in the T20 series for the first time, and praised their team for their skills.

 Akhtar said that if Pathans and Bengalis channelize their energy positively, they can become world leaders. 

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“I am very happy. If Pathans and Bengalis channelise their energy, they can become world’s leading communities. Because both have extremism in them. If extremism can be channelised positively, with maturity, they can become world’s best. I am very happy that our Pathan brothers have won,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

He also advised Pakistan's captain Shadab Khan to make a strong comeback and give tough competition to Afghanistan, who played matured cricket to win. Shoaib also expressed his desire to visit Kabul and meet his Afghan friends.

“Make a strong comeback. Make sure you give tough competition to Afghanistan. It might seem difficult but Afghanistan have played some tough cricket. It’s nice to see them win against Pakistan for first time – and it make me happy that they did it with playing matured cricket. Afghanistan needs good news all the time. I get a lot of phone calls from Afghanistan friends. I want to come to Kabul,” he said.

Last year, during the Asia Cup, the Rawalpindi Express had a different experience with Afghan fans when he accused them of causing violence after the Afghanistan-Pakistan match. 

However, in response to his comment, former CEO of Afghanistan Cricket Board, Shafiq Stanikzai, shared different pictures and videos to show that the Afghan fans were not responsible for the violence. Shoaib Akhtar apologized for his comments.

“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.” Akhtar tagged former chief executive of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) Shafiq Stanikzai in his tweet.

Responding to Akhtar’s comment, Stanikzai said, “Watch these photos and the video carefully then judge, also let the Match referee decide in accordance to the Cricket law before you use humiliating words to the entire nation and it’s your second time u r doing so. I hope ke ab ap apology ke hemat karogi.”