Mohammad Asif: “I called him up recently and told him to shut up about the incident and move on from it”
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Pakistan seamer Mohammad Asif said he told legendary pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar to “shut up” about the 2007 dressing room incident.
Asif noted that Akhtar has made a living off telling the story of how he hit him with a bat prior to the World T20.
Asif was struck on the left leg and is understood to have suffered a bruise as a result of the incident.
Instead of constantly revisiting what happened, the 38-year-old urged Akhtar to “talk sense” and “get back to reality and actually focus on helping young cricketers instead of chatting about something that happened more than 13 years ago”.
“The dressing room spat with Shoaib Akhtar in 2007 was an incident that Shoaib Akhtar has lived off for 13 years,” he told Wisden as quoted by PakPassion.
“He has made so many comments about it and has kept on bringing it up whenever he can. Well, I had had enough, so I called him up recently and told him to shut up about the incident and move on from it. I told him to get over what happened, it’s history now.
“Instead of talking about that incident in every interview, I told him to talk sense, talk about how he can help young cricketers in Pakistan. One day he’s dreaming of being the Chief Selector, the next day he’s dreaming about being Pakistan’s Head Coach or Chairman [of the] PCB, he needs to get back to reality and actually focus on helping young cricketers instead of chatting about something that happened more than 13 years ago.”
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Mohammed asif