Aakash Chopra apologises to Afghanistan Cricket Board after incorrect tweet
Afghanistan might not have made it to the Asia Cup but their board was keen to point out a factual inaccuracy in former Indian opener Aakash Chopra’s Tweet and emphasise that the players playing for the country are all from Afghanistan and not naturalized players.
UAE’s win over Oman in the final qualifier meant it was them and not Afghanistan, who qualified for the 2016 Asia Cup and joined India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh. Rohan Mustafa's heroics in the first match of the Asia Cup qualifiers helped UAE register a shock win over the pre-qualifiers favourites, Afghanistan.
That loss meant Afghanistan had to not only beat Oman and Hong Kong in the remaining matches but also hope that UAE fail to beat one of those teams. While Afghanistan did their part, UAE won both matches and made it to their third Asia Cup.
Although disappointed with their inability to make it to the main tournament, the country’s cricket board were keen on pointing out an inaccuracy in Chopra’s tweet, which claimed that all four qualifiers have Pakistani bowlers opening the innings for them.
This is what Aakash Chopra tweeted on Monday when talking about the bowling attacks of all the qualifiers:
What does Oman, Hong Kong, UAE, Afghanistan and Pakistan have in common? All of them have Pakistani fast bowlers opening the innings
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 22, 2016
He was made to eat his words by the Afghanistan Cricket Board when they pointed out that his statement, with regards to Afghanistan's bowlers, was wrong.
@cricketaakash It is not fair to give statement. All players playing for Afghanistan and pure Afghans.
— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 23, 2016
The former Indian keeper was left red-faced after that Tweet but he still replied back to the official Twitter account as he noticed his mistake and apologised:
Stand corrected...unconditional apology. I was ref to the time some have spent in Pakistan during formative years! https://t.co/WtvDlFMPW5
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 23, 2016
Despite the apology, the Afghanistan Cricket Board's official Twitter account were keen to stress that he had made a mistake and tweeted this:
@cricketaakash add to your knowledge @ACBofficials have strong domestic structure and all players produced in Afghanistan.
— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 23, 2016
@cricketaakash The peroformance @ACBofficials produced both in senior and junior are directly reflecting the system we (ACB) are running.
— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 23, 2016