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'Do educated people talk like this?' Afridi on Gambhir's suggestion of forfeiting match against Pak in World Cup

At a press conference, Afridi lashed out at Gambhir for his suggestion to BCCI to boycott Pakistan cricket team.

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It is a well-known fact that former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir and ex-Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi always shared a bitter relationship. Even after retiring, the rivalry is still intense. The 37-year-old former Pakistani cricketer lashed out at the newly-elected BJP MP when a journalist asked him for a comment on the former opener's suggestion to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to not play against Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup as a tribute to the Indian soldiers who died in Pulwama. 

Afridi, while commenting on it, said that "Do educated people talk like this?" Lashing out at the former Indian opener, Afridi said, "Do you think Gautam used his sense while talking about this? Do you think an educated and a literate person would say?" 

He further added, "They have voted for a person who has no sense." 

Afridi was referring to Gambhir's election from East Delhi Sabha constituency in the recently-concluded general elections. He defeated Congress' Arvinder Singh Lovely by close to 4 lakh votes. 

There were demands from several quarters in India that Virat Kohli-led team should boycott the game against Pakistan in the World Cup in Manchester on June 16 in the wake of February's Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Several former cricketers including Gambhir called for a boycott of the match. Gambhir had said that the Indian team should not play against Pakistan even if the Men in Blue needed to forfeit two points in the knock-out matches or even if the two teams meet each other in the World cup final. He justified by pointing out that the Indian soldiers have lost their lives fighting against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir. 

"We can’t play with the sentiments of our country. Two points are not important than the lives of our soldiers but for this, the entire country needs to be on the same page. We should have the courage to lose points even it’s the first match or the finals. Even if we boycott playing the World Cup final against Pakistan, the country must stand together, there can’t be a difference of opinions," Gambhir told Zee News in March.

The rivalry between two former cricketers is widely known and documented with both Afridi and Gambhir often making public remarks against each other. 

The former Pakistani all-rounder also wrote about the rivalry in his recently-released autobiography book 'Game Changer'. He termed Gambhir as someone "who has no personality and who has a lot of attitude issue." 

Afridi said that he was full of negativity during his playing days. 

“Gambhir behaves like he’s a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi, we call guys like him saryal (burnt up). It is simple, I like happy, positive people. Doesn’t matter if they are aggressive or competitive, but you have to be positive & Gambhir wasn’t,” he further wrote in his autobiography.

Replying to this Gambhir hit back at Shahid Afridi and he tweeted, "you are a hilarious man!!! Anyway, we are still granting visas to Pakistanis for medical tourism. I will personally take you to a psychiatrist."

The rivalry started back in 2007 when Afridi and Gambhir were involved in a bitter spat during an India vs Pakistan ODI in Kanpur. Later, both were fined for breaching the ICC Code of conduct. 

Interestingly, Paddy Upton, India's former mental conditioning coach, had termed Gambhir as mentally insecure and was "negative and pessimistic" person. He even added that Gambhir's insecurity did not stop him from becoming one of India's most successful openers. 

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