A host of Pakistan cricketers are taking part in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and on Tuesday, a rather unusual incident took place between Naseem Shah and Azam Khan as the two represented Comilla Victorians and Khulna Tigers respectively. Naseem, Pakistan's leading right-arm pacer, initiated some banter with Azam, son of Pakistan's former wicketkeeper-batter Moin Khan; but the 24-year-old batter was hardly in playful mood as he pushed Naseem away.
As Azam walked towards the crease, Naseem followed him and mock-imitated the batter's walking style.
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However, many fans believed that Naseem was body-shaming Azam as he walked behind the batter. A fan wrote, “Naseem Shah mocking his country fellow Azam Khan isnt good even for fun sake. Meanwhile Azam Khan makes 12 runs off 4 balls with 1 six & 1 four.”
A fan also defended Naseem, saying that he will “learn." “We all know how mature and innocent Naseem shah is, he might have done wrong but I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to go as body shaming. On a side note, I didn’t see any bad/negative tweet when shadab khan literally did the same thing. Don’t be so harsh on naseem, he will learn,” the fan wrote.
{{/usCountry}}A fan also defended Naseem, saying that he will “learn." “We all know how mature and innocent Naseem shah is, he might have done wrong but I’m sure he didn’t mean for it to go as body shaming. On a side note, I didn’t see any bad/negative tweet when shadab khan literally did the same thing. Don’t be so harsh on naseem, he will learn,” the fan wrote.
{{/usCountry}}Another fan tagged Naseem. “@iNaseemShah naseemaa, this isn't funny at all," the fan wrote.
A host of other fans criticised Naseem for his behaviour as well. Here's the list of tweets:
Naseem is an integral member of the Pakistan men's team across all three formats of the game. Azam, meanwhile, has played in three T20Is so far, with his last appearance coming in July 2021 against West Indies.
Azam has played 100 T20s so far across all matches (international, domestic and franchise leagues), scoring 1,962 runs at an impressive strike rate of 140.64.
Following the BPL, the duo will be next seen in action in the Pakistan Super League, the country's premier T20 league. The eighth season of the league will begin on February 13. While Naseem represents the Quetta Gladiators in the league, Azam will be appearing for the Islamabad United. Interestingly, the duo had played together for the Gladiators till 2021 when Azam left the franchise for Islamabad.