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The low-scoring Asia Cup 2022 encounter took an ugly turn as Pakistan’s Asif Ali and Afghanistan pacer Fareed Ahmad Malik engaged in a heated exchange on the pitch. Asif pushed and raised his bat in response to Malik’s aggressive celebration after taking his wicket in the penultimate over. The video has gone viral on Twitter with fans taking sides.
As Asif got caught trying to hit a bouncer off Malik, he walked towards the other end while watching the ball. As Karim Janat completed the catch, Asif took his eyes off the balls. Malik was not more than an arm’s length away from Asif when he celebrated the wicket.
The celebration did not go down well with Asif and he pushed Malik. As soon as the two players got physical with each other, Afghanistan fielders and the on-field umpires intervened. During the heated exchange, Asif also raised his bat to hit the opponent pacer. However, the matter did not escalate and Asif walked back to the dressing room.
It will be interesting to see whether they face severe consequences for on-field actions.
Asif scored a quickfire 16 runs from eight deliveries including two sixes. Just before getting his wicket, Malik was hit for a six by Pakistan’s designated finisher in the penultimate over. As Pakistan lost their ninth wicket, they still needed 12 runs to win the match from seven deliveries.
Malik took a total of three wickets in his quota of four overs. The left-arm pacer conceded 31 runs but took crucial wickets of Iftikhar Ahmed and Haris Rauf before the 19th over. He went for just a single off the final ball of the over, leaving 11 runs to defend for Fazalhaq Farooqi.
In the final over, Naseem went berserk and hit Farooqi for two consecutive sixes. Coming round the wicket, Farooqi bowled a full toss followed by a fuller delivery. Both of them were hit over the ropes as Naseem won the match for his team with four balls to spare. With two big hits, he also knocked out Afghanistan and India out of Asia Cup 2022 final race.
