‘Ban Asif Ali’ demands grow after he nearly hits Afghanistan pacer Fareed Ahmad with bat
The Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmad incident happened during the penultimate over of the Pakistan innings. Fareed celebrated Ali’s wicket by pumping his fist.
Pakistan punched their ticket to Asia Cup 2022 final after a nail-biting one-wicket victory against Afghanistan on Wednesday. The Pakistan vs Afghanistan low-scoring thriller in Sharjah was marred by ugly scenes involving Pakistan batsman Asif Ali and Afghanistan pacer Fareed Ahmad. During the altercation, Ali raised his bat at Fareed prompting netizens to demand a ban on Pakistan batter.
Asia Cup 2022: Fans react to Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmad’s on-field fight
The Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmad incident happened during the penultimate over of the Pakistan innings. Fareed celebrated Ali’s wicket by pumping his fist. The Afghanistan pacer’s action left Ali unimpressed as he stared at the Afghanistan bowler. The left-arm pacer (Fareed) did not budge and continued to stare back at Ali, who shoved him off. Even after shoving, the Afghan bowler continued to stare, and at that very moment, Ali raised his bat. The actions of the Pakistan cricketer have ultimately led to fans demanding a ban against him.
Former chief executive of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), Shafiq Stanikzai, lashed out at Pakistan batter Asif Ali and reckoned that his actions were ‘stupid’ and should be banned from rest of the tournament. Taking to Twitter, he wrote:
Besides Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmad on-field fight, there was a clash inside the stadium between fans from both the countries. The video of the incident which went viral shows Afghanistan fans damaging the property inside the Sharjah cricket stadium and also attacking their Pakistan counterparts.
PAK vs AFG highlights
Speaking of the match, the see-saw battle saw Pakistan finding themselves in trouble while chasing the target as Afghanistan side led their way with the ball to claim wickets at regular intervals. Mohammad Nabi’s team looked in control of the match until the last over. Naseem Shah struck consecutive sixes in the first two balls of the final over taking the team through to the Asia Cup 2022 final.
Even before the start of the Pakistan vs Afghanistan Super 4 Asia Cup 2022 match, all four teams were in contention of reaching the Asia Cup 2022 final, however, Pakistan’s victory meant Afghanistan and defending champions India became virtually out of the reckoning for the summit clash of the tournament. The Pakistan vs Sri Lanka final is scheduled to take place on September 11.
