"It was not just with me" - Shahid Afridi makes a cheeky remark on his ugly spat with Gautam Gambhir in 2007
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi opened up on his ugly spat with current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir in 2007. He said that the former Indian batter had altercations with other players as well, but the incident featuring him got played up a lot more.
The incident in question took place during an ODI between India and Pakistan in Kanpur in November 2007. Afridi was bowling to Gambhir when a verbal spat took place after Gambhir had hit the Pakistan leg-spinner for a four. On the next ball, the players bumped into each other as Gambhir took a single. A heated argument followed, which needed on-field umpire Ian Gould's intervention.
Speaking to Pakistan’s Geo News, Afridi downplayed the incident and commented (as quoted by News18):
“It was not just with me that Gautam had it. It happened with other players as well, players from Australia, South Africa, England, etc. But the thing between me and Gautam was highlighted by the media."
In recent years, the two former cricketers have exchanged barbs on social media as well following which the Indian media also had a go at the former Pakistan cricketer. Speaking about one such incidence, Afridi said:
“Honestly speaking, I had tweeted that India should come to Pakistan and on that some Indian media declared me part of the Taliban."
Speaking about the 2007 incident in the Kanpur ODI, match referee Roshan Mahanama fined Afridi 95% of his match fee while Gambhir was fined 65% of his fee for breaching the ICC's Code of Conduct.
"Why do they always show my fight with Shahid Afridi?" - When Gautam Gambhir reacted to the 2007 incident
During an ANI podcast, Gambhir revisited the controversy involving him and Afridi in 2007. He said that he has long gotten over the incident but added that the broadcasters keep showing the same incident to grab TRPs.
"When there's a match between India and Pakistan, why do they always show my fight with Shahid Afridi? There are so many other fights that have happened. Show something positive. Show when India has won the Asia Cup against Pakistan," the former India opener was quoted as saying in the podcast.
Gambhir is going through a rough patch as India's head coach. Under his tenure, the team was hammered 3-0 at home by New Zealand. They also lost the pink-ball Test to Australia in Adelaide by 10 wickets after winning the first Test in Perth by 295 runs.