Afghan Cricket Board Asked To 'Control' Players During Sharjah Series: Sethi

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2023-03-13T20:00:53+05:00 News Desk
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi has sent out a warning to Afghanistan Cricket Board, asking them to keep their players' behaviour in check during the Asia Cup series due in Sharjah.

Last year's Asia Cup between the two teams saw the players involved in a heated exchange of words.

Asif Ali had an intense exchange of words with Afghan pacer Fareed Ahmad Malik. Fareed then pushed Asif, which prompted him to raise his bat at the former.

Soon afterwards, the other players and umpires in the ground intervened to avoid a fight between the two. But later on, Afghan fans resorted to hitting the other side with chairs, aggravating the situation.

“I had a chat with Afghanistan officials in Dubai about crowd control and their players’ behavior. What is the guarantee regarding managing your fans and players, because past experiences haven’t been good,” Sethi said.

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“We told Afghanistan board to control their players. Winning and losing is part of the game. We have experience with regards to winning and losing, so we can control our emotions, but they are new [to international cricket], so they need to keep their players in check,” he added.

“There were two assurances given. UAE authorities have made a new plan, in which they will try their best that Pakistan fans and Afghanistan fans won’t sit together in the same stand,” PCB chairman maintained.





“In addition to that, strict action will be taken against rowdiness from people. There will be strict security in Sharjah,” he concluded.

Last year, then chairman PCB Ramiz Raja criticised the hooliganism, as Pakistan announced to approach the International Cricket Council (ICC) against the behaviour of the fans.

Not only did the Afghan fans attacked the Pakistani spectators, they also engaged in acts of vandalism, breaking the chairs to hit the latter with.




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