LPL 2020: Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq gets into war of words with Mohammad Amir, Shahid Afridi
The inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League is currently in progress with some of the top T20 cricketers across the world featuring in it. It was a double-header on Monday with Kandy Tuskers facing Galle Gladiators in the sixth match of the tournament. The Tuskers won the high-scoring encounter by 25 runs. But more than their performance, the heated exchanges between the players was the talking point after the match.
Afghanistan’s 21-year-old pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, playing for the Tuskers, was in the middle of all and it began with him and Mohammad Amir having a heated tussle. They were seen having a go at each other soon after the match ended and Naveen was visibly angry with the Pakistan pacer. Despite their teammates trying to intervene, both the players were saying something to each other.
At the same time, the Gladiators, led by Shahid Afridi, came out for a handshake with the opposition. When Naveen-ul-Haq, with angry and irritated face, came in front of him, Afridi spoke to him and seemed to advise him to cool down. However, the Afghanistan prodigy didn’t look happy even then and ended up hearing a mouthful from the Pakistan veteran.
Here’s the video:
Shahid Afridi at the age of 20: Most runs in ODI cricket for any batsman for that age, fastest hundred in ODI cricket and World Cup finalist ?
Naveen Ul Haq, at the age of 21, just had a heated exchange with him ? #LPL2020 #WinTogether #HoldTheFort pic.twitter.com/8wLM81e5dk
— Cricingif (@_cricingif) November 30, 2020
Tuskers win the match by 25 runs
As far as the match is concerned, Kusal Mendis and Brendan Taylor played vital knocks for the Tuskers after they were invited to bat first. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Kusal Perera couldn’t make the most of the starts. But Mendis and Taylor slammed 49 and 51* respectively to help the team get to 196 runs for the loss of five wickets after 20 overs. Kamindu Mendis also played a cameo of 28 runs off 16 balls to propel the score in the final overs.
In response, Danushka Gunathilaka played a brilliant knock of 82 runs off 53 balls but none of the other batsmen could cross the 20-run mark. Shahid Afridi bagged a golden duck and once Gunathilaka got run-out in the 18th over, it was only a matter of time. Eventually, the Gladiators could only reach 171 runs for the loss of seven wickets with Naveen-ul-Haq conceding 33 runs in his four overs and picking one wicket.
