Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has given his take on the Mohammad Amir vs Babar Azam face-off that took place in the second match of the ongoing Pakistan Super League. In the match on Tuesday, Karachi Kings’ pacer Amir was hit for a four by Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam on the penultimate ball in the 6th over. After that, the left-arm pacer bowled him a dot delivery and collected the ball on the follow-through. Soon after collecting it, Amir vented his frustration out by throwing the ball in anger.
Reacting to the incident, Malik, who plays for the same PSL team as Amir, said that the players should respect each other, while he admitted that confrontation or any other driving force could be used by players to do better during matches.
“The respect element shouldn’t be missing. I’ve seen Amir, Imad, Babar… whenever they meet, they greet each other with respect,” said Malik in a press conference after the match.
“In this room, you won’t be compatible in the same way with everyone. Some would gel up well, you’d like some and you might not like some others. But that would only be on a professional basis. I’m sure you all respect each other too.
“It’s good for the league. Once you enter the league, you need to focus on what encourages you to deliver your best. But we know no one crosses the line,” Malik added.
Talking about the match, Peshawar Zalmi defeated Karachi Kings by a narrow margin of two runs in the second match of the ongoing Pakistan Super League season. It was a game for the batters as the National Stadium, Karachi saw a total of 396 runs being scored across the two innings.
