Former Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and the emerging batsman Saud Shakeel were indulged in an ugly war of words during a training session in Australia.
Under the leadership of Shan Masood, Pakistan are set to lock horns with the Pat Cummins-led Australia in a three-match Test series starting on December 14 in Perth.
The second Test match of the series will start on December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the third and final Test will begin on January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ahead of the first Test, Pakistan players took part in a training session in Canberra where Sarfaraz Ahmed and Saud Shakeel were seen exchanging heated words. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media where it could be clearly heard what they were saying to each other.
“For how long will I continue to be of use to you?” Shakeel questioned.
Sarfaraz responded: “You won’t be of any use to me. To begin with, I never instructed you to do anything. I never requested you to make a swap. I swapped with the person I intended to.”
Shakeel countered: “You still made the swap, so I was beneficial to you.”
What happening !?! 👀#PAKvsAUS #PakistanCricket #PakistanCricketTeam #PSL9Draft pic.twitter.com/5bRypGZWB3
— 𝐋𝐞𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢 (@BukhariLeo14) December 4, 2023
Recently, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Saud Shakeel also made headlines following the former’s timed-out appeal against the batsman during an intra-squad practice match. Notably, Ahmed appealed for timed-out as Shakeel was taking a lot of time to come out to bat, but in the end, the batsman was declared not out.
Australia boasts good batters, but we are no less – Sarfaraz Ahmed
Sarfaraz spoke to reporters ahead of the commencement of the series and stated that they are equally good as Australia in terms of batting.
“Australia boasts good batters, but we are no less. With Abdullah, Babar, Imam, Saud, and Agha in our ranks, we are well-equipped for the challenge,” he said.
Sarfaraz Ahmed also showered praise on the bowling unit of Pakistan National Cricket Team.
“Shaheen and Hasan are exceptional, and we have the likes of Mir Hamza, Khurram Shehzad, and Fahim, who have proven their mettle in domestic competitions,” he said.