Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali did not mince his words while criticizing young spinner Sufiyan Muqeem over sledging Indian batter Abhishek Sharma during the ongoing ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024. Pakistan Shaheens kicked off their Emerging Asia Cup campaign against India A on Saturday, during which Sufiyan got involved in a heated exchange with Abhishek. The incident occurred on the first ball of Sufiyan’s spell when he ended Abhishek’s entertaining knock of 35 off 22, courtesy of a brilliant catch by Qasim Akram. The young left-arm spinner gave a fiery send-off to Abhishek, signalling for silence with a finger on his lips. Abhishek lunged toward the Pakistan A bowler; however, the on-field umpires intervened to calm the situation down.

Basit Ali took to his official YouTube channel and expressed his displeasure over the actions of the young spinner. The former batter highlighted the importance of maintaining discipline on the field. “The cricket was top-class, but one thing that really upset me was the incident involving Sufiyan Muqeem and Abhishek Sharma,” said Basit. “If I were sitting in the dugout or the team manager, I would have told Sufiyan, ‘Son, pick up your things and go back.’ You haven’t even played proper cricket for Pakistan yet. You should not be behaving like this.” It’s worth noting that Pakistan Shaheens closely lost the match by seven runs as they failed to chase the target of 184. They managed to accumulate 176/7 in the allotted 20 overs.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan