Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder and former skipper Shahid Afridi has finally reacted to Indian star batter Virat Kohli’s remarks on playing in Pakistan.
“I expected such a statement from Virat. I welcome Kohli, whether he comes to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) or with the Indian team,” Afridi said while speaking during a tape ball event in Karachi on Saturday.
Afridi’s comments refer to Kohli’s remarks, while speaking to Pakistani mountaineer Shehroze Kashif, wherein he said that he hopes to visit Pakistan “soon”.
“Give my regards to your family and all your friends. Hopefully, we [will] visit Pakistan soon [as] everyone has started visiting now,” Kohli can be heard saying in the video.
The video, which dates back to 2022, has since been deleted by Kashif due to the controversy that arose and in light of his personal contacts in the neighboring country.
“I had to delete the video because of my personal contacts in India with whom I’m very good friends, and they requested me to do so.
“Please don’t blow this out of proportion. Let’s keep things in perspective and not create unnecessary issues […] It’s disheartening to see such insecurity over a fan simply talking to their favorite athlete,” the caption read on his social media posts.
“This is also affecting Kohli,” Kashif said in a video posted on his social media accounts, noting that it was “so nice” of the Indian batter to reach out after reading some articles about him.
“It’s actually sad and I’m very disappointed,” the mountaineer said, stressing that what could’ve been used to convey a positive message was, in fact, interpreted negatively.
“We should’ve taken this as a positive message rather than creating a controversy around such a great player,” he said while referring to the coverage being given to the Indian batter in the Indian news media.
Stressing that Pakistani sports personalities are not insecure about their interactions with their Indian counterparts, Kashif said that there are no boundaries in sports.
