Virat Kohli gifts two jerseys to Babar Azam. Photo: Disney Hotstar/Screengrab
Babar receives India jerseys from Kohli; Akram slams Pakistan captain
While fans appreciated Kohli’s gesture of gifting his jerseys to Babar, Akram had a different take on it.
After a crushing loss to India in an ICC World Cup 2023 match in Ahmedabad on Saturday night (October 14), Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been criticised for receiving Indian jerseys from Virat Kohli.
Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akram slammed Babar as he was captured on camera, after the match, receiving Kohli’s India jerseys from the star batter.
It is a known fact that Kohli and Babar have mutual respect for each other. The same was on display at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad after the match.
While fans appreciated Kohli’s gesture of gifting his jerseys to Babar, Akram had a different take on it.
Akram felt this was not the day to receive those jerseys as Pakistan had suffered a heavy loss in a lopsided contest.
According to media reports, Akram made the comments against Babar on a Pakistani cricket show after the match. He was responding to a fan’s question on the show.
“I can see Babar is receiving two shirts from Virat Kohli,” the question read, a report on Wisden said.
“Everybody is showing this clip over and over again. But after your fans are so hurt after a disappointing performance, this should be a private matter, it should not be done in an open ground,” the fan added.
“That’s what I exactly said when I saw the picture (getting the shirts publicly, not privately),” Akram said. “Today was not the day to do this. If you want to do it – if your uncle’s son has asked you to get Kohli’s shirt – then do it after the game in the dressing room.”
The video of Babar receiving jerseys was shared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on its official Instagram handle. The post was captioned, “The mutual respect”. It has so far received over 1.2 million likes.
