Picture Credit: KPL
Rawalakot Hawks captain Shahid Afridi has been penalised for rude send-off off to Muzaffarabad Tigers’ Zeeshan Ashraf in the final of the inaugural season of the controversial Kashmir Premier League. Afridi has accordingly been fined 5% of his match fees. Several reports have claimed that match referee Ali Naqvi questioned Shahid Afridi after the match and the former Pakistan captain accepted his mistake after which the penalty was levied.
Notably, Zeesham hit several boundaries off Afridi which didn't go down too well with the bowler, so when the leggie finally got his wicket he couldn't hold back his emotions and dished out an animated and angry response. Eventually, they were the Hawks who won the first edition of the tournament beating Muzaffarabad Tigers by 7 runs in the title clash.
KPL final went down to the wire
Hawks were able to post 169 runs with significant contributions from Kashif Ali (54), Bismillah Khan (30), and Sahibzada Farhan (28) as Tigers’ captain Mohammad Hafeez and Usama Mir managed to chip in with a couple of wickets. In response, the Tigers had gotten off to a good start with openers Zeeshan Ashraf and Hafeez adding 54 runs in 5.4 overs. While Hafeez made 25 runs with the help of five boundaries, Zeeshan managed to score 46 off 26 balls.
However, the match went down to the wire and the Tigers needed 10 runs in the final over which they failed to get.
Disappointing that BCCI is mixing cricket and politics again: Shahid Afridi
Earlier, Afridi had taken to Twitter to express his displeasure over the entire KPL row.
"Really disappointing that BCCI is once again mixing cricket and politics! KPL is a league for Kashmir, Pakistan and cricket fans around the world. We will put up a wonderful show and won’t be deterred with such behaviour!!," read Afridi’s response to Herschelle Gibbs’ tweet from July 31.
“Completely unnecessary of the @BCCI to bring their political agenda with Pakistan into the equation and trying to prevent me playing in the @kpl_20. Also threatening me saying they won’t allow me entry into India for any cricket related work. Ludicrous,” Gibbs had alleged.
Here are the tweets: