Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has landed in controversy while analyzing his national team’s loss against Afghanistan in Match 22 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Monday, October 23 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. While criticizing the team’s fitness and food choices on a Pakistani news channel, Akram blurted a casteist slur.
During the show ‘The Pavilion’ on A Sports, Akram shared his opinion on why he is against doing a pre-match show live from the stadium due to hot and humid conditions. While describing how he would look drenched in sweat under the scorching heat of the sun, Akram used the word “Ch***r”.
The video of the incident has gone viral all over social media with Akram receiving flak for his choice of words from fans all over the globe.
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Coming back to the match, Afghanistan chased down their highest target in the history of the World Cup as they reached 286/2 in 49 overs and won the match by eight wickets. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65 off 53) and Ibrahim Zadran (87 off 113) got their team off to a terrific start by adding 130 runs for the first wicket off 127 balls.
Bhai wtf????? https://t.co/F9cMuLP1mS pic.twitter.com/WN5WEbxK84
— Jitesh Sharma’s vakeel (@neelakhoon) October 23, 2023
Following their dismissals, Rahmat Shah (77 off 84) and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (48 off 45) took their team home and helped them register their third win in ODI World Cup history. Notably, it was also their first win over Pakistan in the format.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan posted 282/7 in their allotted 50 overs with captain Babar Azam top scoring with his innings of 74 (92) while Abdullah Shafique (58 off 75) also scored a half-century. Shadab Khan (40 off 38) and Iftikhar Ahmed (40 off 27) also made valuable contributions to help their team cross the 280-run mark. World Cup debutant, Noor Ahmad was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan with his spell of 3/49 in ten overs.
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Afghanistan’s win over Pakistan was a historic one, as it was their first ever win over the Green Shirts in the World Cup. The win also took them to the top of the World Cup table, with three wins in four matches. Pakistan, on the other hand, are now in a spot of bother, as they have lost two of their four matches so far. They will need to win their remaining matches to stay in contention for a place in the semi-finals.
