'I had enough, so I called him up recently and told him to shut up': Asif comments on dressing-room spat with Akhtar | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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'I had enough, so I called him up recently and told him to shut up': Asif comments on dressing-room spat with Akhtar

May 21, 2021 03:42 PM IST

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar had hit his teammate Asif with a bat. Akhtar was called back from the 2007 ICC World T20 in South Africa.

The Mohammad Asif-Shoaib Akhtar spat at the 2007 World T20 has dominated headlines even several years after it happened. In 2007, reports surfaced that former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar had hit his teammate Asif with a bat. The reports were confirmed later and Akhtar was called back from the 2007 ICC World T20 in South Africa.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in 2006(Getty Images)
Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in 2006(Getty Images)

The incident was been talked about a lot in the past and recently shot up again when Shahid Afridi was asked about it. Akhtar had previously talked about the incident in his autobiography, Controversially Yours, where he accused Afridi of aggravating the situation. Afridi recently replied in an interview as he denied aggravating the situation.

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“Things happen,” Afridi told Samaa.tv.

“Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart.”

Now, Asif has also responded on the incident and has asked Akhtar to ‘shut up’ about the spat. Asif said Akhtar has lived-off the incident for 13 years and made so many comments about it. He revealed that he called up the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ and told him to ‘move on’ from it.

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“The dressing room spat with Shoaib Akhtar in 2007 was an incident that Shoaib Akhtar has lived-off for 13 years. He has made so many comments about it and has kept on bringing it up whenever he can. Well, I had enough, so I called him up recently and told him to shut up about the incident and move on from it. I told him to get over what happened, it’s history now. Instead of talking about that incident in every interview, I told him to talk sense, talk about how he can help young cricketers in Pakistan. One day he’s dreaming of being the Chief Selector, the next day he’s dreaming about being Pakistan’s Head Coach or Chairman PCB, he needs to get back to reality and actually focus on helping young cricketers instead of chatting about something that happened more than 13 years ago,” Asif told Pak Passion.

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