"...you are a hilarious man!!! Anyway, we are still granting visas to Pakistanis for medical tourism. I will personally take you to a psychiatrist," Gambhir tweeted.
Not known to pull back punches, Gautam Gambhir hit back at Shahid Afridi, offering to take him to a session with "a psychiatrist" after the former Pakistan captain wrote a few uncharitable things about the Indian opener.
Afridi in his just-released autobiography 'Game Changer' had sarcastically referred to Gambhir as someone who "behaves like a cross between Don Bradman and James Bond," and has a "lot of attitude and no great records".
Gambhir responded through his official twitter handle tagging Afridi.
"...you are a hilarious man!!! Anyway, we are still granting visas to Pakistanis for medical tourism. I will personally take you to a psychiatrist," Gambhir tweeted.
Reacting to the tweet, Afridi said: “Gambhir has a mental problem and if he wants I can get him treated at my hospital. If he faces any visa problem I will get it processed quickly for him.”
@SAfridiOfficial you are a hilarious man!!! Anyway, we are still granting visas to Pakistanis for medical tourism. I will personally take you to a psychiatrist.
— Chowkidar Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 4, 2019
The book based on the cricketing career and personal life of Shahid Afridi and written by renowned journalist and his close friend Wajahat Khan has opened up many controversies.
Afridi made many controversial comments about his fellow Pakistan crickters in the book. Afridi claimed that former Test cricketer and coach Javed Miandad didn’t like him and tried to finish his career before his debut Test match. Afridi also called former Test cricketer Waqar Younis a ‘terrible captain’ and said that in 2003 World Cup Pakistan lacked strong leadership.
However, he reserved the most controversial comments about former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir. Afridi has clashed many times with Gambhir both on and off the field.
1. Never shared a great rapport
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The duo never shared a great rapport on and off-the-field and it was reflected in Afridi's take on Gambhir.
"Some rivalries were personal, some professional. First the curious case of Gambhir. Oh poor Gautam. He & his attitude problem. He who has no personality. He who is barely a character in the great scheme of cricket. He who has no great records just a lot of attitude," Afridi wrote.
2. 'Behaved like a cross between Bradman and Bond'
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"Gambhir behaves like he's a cross between Don Bradman & James Bond. In Karachi, we call guys like him saryal (grumpy). It's 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.
3. Angry bust-up in 2007
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The two had an angry bust up during a bilateral series ODI in Kanpur back in 2007 (wrongly referred in Afridi's book as Asia Cup game).
"I remember the run-in with Gambhir during the 2007 Asia Cup, when he completed his single while running straight into me. The umpires had to finish it off or I would have. Clearly we had a frank bilateral discussion about each other's female relatives," Afridi recalled the uncharitable verbal exchange.
4. Afridi admits to age-fraud
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Afridi has recently agreed that he had indulged in age-fraud and was 21 years old when he scored his hundred debut and not 16 as it was believed for a lot of years.
