Mohammad Asif sided with me on a joke which enraged Shoaib Akhtar: Shahid Afridi on 2007 dressing room fight

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi let the rabbit out of the hat in a recent interview when he opened up on the controversial incident between teammates Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in the Pakistan dressing room in 2007.

Pakistan cricket hit headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2007 when a spat broke out between two senior fast bowlers in the squad. Just before the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa, Akhtar and fellow fast bowler Asif were involved in a dressing room fight which resulted in the latter injuring his leg.

Shoaib later blamed all-rounder Shahid Afridi for the spat that led to him hitting Asif with a bat during Pakistan’s build-up to the WT20 in South Africa. As a result, Shoaib was thrown out of the squad and he later apologised to Asif after returning to Pakistan.

Afridi though, denied any involvement in the incident even though Shoaib accused the former Pakistan captain of instigating him during the incident.

“Things happen within the team when you’re with each other more than you’re with your families. There are some people who can take a joke and some people who can’t. I did not have a hand in the incident, I only went in to save the situation when I saw Shoaib angry,” Afridi said on a video interview with Samaa.

“Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart, despite all the show of aggression he does. It’s natural for a fast bowler,” Afridi added.

Akhtar had touched upon this controversy in his autobiography, Controversially Yours, where he revealed how Afridi aggravated the situation.

“Afridi was aggravating the situation and I swung the bat at both of them. Afridi ducked, but Asif couldn’t get out of the way, the bat struck him on his thighs and he collapsed. I had lost it. I had never behaved like this, especially in the dressing room,” Akhtar wrote.