Fans from Afghanistan caused chaos after an Asian Cup match.© Twitter
The 2022 Asia Cup witnessed an unpleasant incident as fans caused chaos after the Afghanistan-Pakistan match on Wednesday. The match was hard-fought as Pakistan won last time by chasing a low goal of 130. There was a fight between Pakistani Asif Ali and Afghan Fareed Ahmed Malik after the former was sent off by the latter. Later you could see fans from Afghanistan uprooting the stadium seats and causing a stir. Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja has made a strong exception to the unruly behavior of the fans.
“Hooliganism doesn’t identify you with cricket. This is bad. You don’t want such things to happen in cricket. We will send a letter to ICC, we will raise our voice against this. We will do what we can. Because the visuals were really bad and this is not the first time it has happened,” Ramiz said to the press.
“Winning or losing is part of the game. It was a grueling match, it was a great match. But you have to control your emotions because if you can’t, you can’t grow as a cricket playing nation. So we will certainly write a letter (to ICC), and we will express our concern. We owe it to our fans. Anything could have happened. Our cricket team could have been in danger. We will file our protest while following all protocols.”
Pakistan’s win meant that India and Afghanistan are out of the equation for Sunday’s final as they are winless from two games. With four points each, Pakistan and Sri Lanka qualified for the title fight.
Invited to bat, Afghanistan put down 129 for six with Ibrahim Zadran as the top scorer with a 37-ball 35. Pakistan chased the goal with four balls left, reaching 131 for 9 in 19.2 overs.
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Shadab Khan scored the highest score for Pakistan with 36, while Iftikhar Ahmed made 30. For Afghanistan, Fareed Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi each took three wickets, while Rashid Khan took two.
With PTI inputs
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