Pakistan international cricketers Mohammad Amir and Babar Azam had a face-off in the second match of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Tuesday.
In the match, Karachi Kings’ pacer Amir was swatted for a four by Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam on the fifth delivery of the sixth over. Subsequently, the left-arm pacer bowled him a dot delivery. Then Amir collected the ball on the follow through and vented his frustration out by throwing the ball in anger. Tension erupted among the players and fans both on and off the field following the unsavory incident.
Reacting to the incident, former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said that the players should respect each other. However, Malik, who also plays for the same PSL team as Amir, admitted that confrontation or any other driving force could be used by players in a better way during matches.
“The respect element shouldn’t be missing. I have seen Amir and Babar meeting each other in other times. They have mutual respect for each other. The same thing should be on the ground during matches as well,” said Malik in a presser.
“There are different persons and different personalities. There should be aggression on the ground and that is good for the league. But, no one should cross the line and there should be mutual respect for each other,” he added.
Notably, Peshawar Zalmi pipped Karachi Kings by a narrow margin of two runs in the high voltage match.