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While cricket is called the gentleman's game, sometimes the aggression seems to get the better of even the world's best. An incident during the ongoing second T20I between Bangladesh and Pakistan proved just that.
It all unfolded in the third over of the Bangladesh batting innings. The over was given to ace Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi by the Pakistan captain Babar Azam. While Bangladesh were already on the back foot, having lost two wickets in the first two overs, Babar decided to go ahead with his wicket-taking option and continue the attack.
But the Bangladesh batter Afif Hossain took the attack to the opposition and played a superb pick shot off his pads for a six over square leg. Such sublime was the timing that the ball sailed over the ropes comfortably. The shot perhaps got Shaheen Afridi's adrenaline rushing and after the batter had driven the next ball straight to the left-arm pacer, he collected it and threw it back dangerously at the batter, who was injured in the process.
There was clearly no intent of stealing a run on the occasion and the batter did not leave his crease which suggested that it was perhaps Afridi losing temper and an unnecessary show of aggression from the bowler. The physios had to run in to check whether the southpaw was hurt. Shaheen, however, was quick to apologise.
Check out the video of the incident here:
Earlier, pacer James Pattinson had faced a one-match suspension after he was found to have breached the code of conduct during Victoria's Sheffield Shield win over New South Wales at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after a similar incident. Pattinson's throw had hit Hughes on the foot and the batter needed some treatment before he could continue his innings with a bit of discomfort.
Although Pattinson later apologised for his action, Hughes was not happy at all and the bowler was charged under Article 2.7 of Cricket Australia's code of conduct, "for throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during a match."