Picture Credit: Twitter
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar must be a happy man with the way his team has been performing. Not only did Pakistan manage to break in the India jink in a World Cup, but they also registered a win over New Zealand in their second match to more or less confirm a place in the semifinals unless there is an upset with matches against Afghanistan, Scotland and Nambia lined up.
While Pakistan beat the BlackCaps on Tuesday and it should have been a celebratory broadcast on a television channel in the country, things turned ugly on a live show on PTV Sports. When Akhtar was talking about some cricket trivia, he seemed to credit the Pakistan Super League team Lahore Qalandars for unearthing the talented left-arm speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
However, just then the show's host Nauman Niaz did not seem to like what Akhtar was talking about and did not even let him finish. He even asked Akhtar to leave and then moved to the other panelist for their comment on the same. It is not clear what seemed to have irked the show host and even Akhtar looked clueless when the incident happened.
Check out some footages here:
Post Nauman abruptly cutting short Akhtar, there was clearly heightened tension in the room which was when the host quickly called for a commercial break. But as the show resumed, the atmosphere could not get back to normalcy and Akhtar later clarified that he was expecting an apology from the anchor since he was a "national star" and had been insulted on national television.
But when no apology came from Nauman, Akhtar walked away from the show post apologising to the other guests - the likes of Sir Viv Richards, Sana Mir and David Gower.
"A lot of apologies guys, a lot of apologies. I am resigning from PTV. The way I have been treated on national TV, I don't think I should be sitting here right now. So, I am resigning. Thank you very much," Akhtar said before he got up from the table.
What was more shocking was that Nauman continued the show as if nothing had happened and paid no heed to Akhtar's resignation in the middle of the show.
"Multiple clips are circulating on social media so I thought I shud clarify.dr noman was abnoxious and rude wen he asked me to leave the show, it was embarrassing specially wen u have legends like sir Vivian Richards and David gower sitting on the set with some of my contemporaries," Akhtar posted on Twitter.
"And seniors and millions watching. I tried to save everyone from embarrassment by saying I was pulling dr nomans leg with this mutual understanding that dr noman will also politely apologise and we will move on with the show, which he refused to do. Then I had no other choice," he added in another.
Here are Akhtar's tweets: