The much-talked-about T20 World Cup 2022 finished on Sunday, with England becoming World Champions after defeating Pakistan by five wickets in the summit clash.
England’s all-rounder duo of Ben Stokes and Sam Curran turned out to be the match winners with their respective performances. While Curran took three wickets for just 12 runs to restrict Pakistan to 137/8, Stokes smashed an unbeaten 52 to help England chase down the target with five wickets in hand and one over to spare.
After the game, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami and former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar got involved in sort of verbal volley on Twitter. Following the loss, Akhtar Shoaib shared a heartbroken emoji to express his disappointment. In response, Shami wrote, “Sorry, brother. It’s called karma”, followed by three heartbreak emojis.
Sorry brother
It’s call karma 💔💔💔 https://t.co/DpaIliRYkd
— 𝕸𝖔𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖒𝖎 (@MdShami11) November 13, 2022
Shami’s reference was not clear, but it could be related to Akhtar’s comments regarding the Indian pacer after the Men in Blue had lost to England in the semi-final. Akhtar had questioned Shami’s place in the Indian side and his sudden call-up.
Nonetheless, Akhtar, too, responded to Shami’s ”Karma” tweet with an image of Harsha Bhogle‘s statement on Pakistan’s bowling, with the caption: “And this is what you call [a] sensible tweet.”
https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/1591787400019181577
As the two cricketers indulged in a Twitter battle, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram lashed out at both Shami and Akhtar, asking them to show some maturity and not get involved in a war of words.
“We should stay neutral. Indians are patriotic about their country, and I’m fine with that; we are patriotic about our country. But instead of that, jalti pe tel daalna, tweet pe tweet karna, just don’t do it, man,” said Akram while speaking on Pakistan’s channel A Sports.
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi also reacted to the incident and urged that cricketers should refrain themselves from making such comments as it leaves a bad impression on common people from both nations.
“Cricketers are ambassadors and role models, and we should always try to finish [the tensions] between the two countries. We are two neighbours, and they have responsibilities towards each other. Things that cause hatred should not be done or written; if we are doing this, then what can we expect from the common person or the uneducated people? We should build our relationships, and sport is a medium that helps us build that. We want to continue playing with India, so these unnecessary things shouldn’t be said. If it’s a retired player, then also you shouldn’t write all this, but you should avoid it if you are a current player,” said Afridi on Sama TV.
