It was an One day International game in Kanpur in 2007 that made Shahid Afridi and Gautam Gambhir, the bitter rivals for ages. Gambhir was running for a single and collided with Afridi which created all the controversy and heated word exchange between the two. Years after the incident, both the cricketers have now retired from International cricket but the rivalry still continues off the field.
Gambhir recently joined politics and contested from East Delhi constituency in the general elections from the ticket of Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP). The former India opener pipped his closest rival Arvinder Singh Lovely of Congress by over 3 lakh votes.
Comments over Pulwama attack
After the Pulwama terror attack on 14th February 2019, Gambhir has been quiet vocal about discontinuing the cricket ties with Pakistan. He said that there should not be any conditional bans and India should not play Pakistan in the upcoming world cup, whether its a league stage game or final.
“There can’t be conditional bans. Either you ban everything with Pakistan or open everything with Pakistan. What has happened in Pulwama is absolutely unacceptable,” said Gambhir.
“I am sure it’s going to be difficult for India to boycott them in ICC tournaments but stop playing Pakistan in the Asia Cup,” he added.
Gambhir’s statement were narrated to Afridi by a news reporter on which the former Pakistani captain had a harsh reply. Afridi was not impressed by the views of Gambhir and called him a fool(Bewakoof).
“Do you think Gautam used his wits while talking about this? Does this look like something which a sensible person would say? Do educated people talk like this?” Afridi responded.
