‘India were losing and it happened in heat’ – Kamran Akmal opens up on on-field verbal-spat with Ishant Sharma in 2012

On-field blow-ups are not new to cricket. At times, verbal gymnastics within boundaries add flavour to a cricketing contest. Cricketing history has witnessed players getting involved in heated exchanges and that often happens due to the white line fever.

Something similar had happened during the first T20I of the India versus Pakistan series back in December 2012 when Pakistan's wicket-keeper batter Kamran Akmal and India's pacer Ishant Sharma had got involved in an on-field verbal duel.

The incident had taken place in the 18th over of Pakistan's innings. Ishant picked the wicket of Mohammed Hafeez (61 off 43 balls) off the first ball itself. Akmal came to bat soon after Pakistan lost their fourth wicket.

Live commentary: Ishant comes in to bowl. Kamran pushes the ball outside the line, and the ball goes past the leg stump.

While two balls remained in Ishant's over, the situation went out of hand. The pacer and batter were seen standing inches apart and talking at each other. However, Suresh Raina and the umpires came in and the issue was sorted out.

Akmal recently opened up on the on-field verbal spat during the match against India at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in December 2012. The 41-year-old cricketer said that Ishant Sharma was the one who hurled invective and then got it back. However, he mentioned that India skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina were nice, as both of them solved the problem at hand.

As quoted by cricket pundit Farid Khan, Kamran Akmal said: "Ishant Sharma did hurl abuse, he got all the abuses back too. MS Dhoni was really nice and Suresh Raina came, and settled it down. India were losing and it happened in the heat of the moment. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez were playing very well, so he was furious."

Talking about the match, Pakistan won by five wickets with two balls remaining. It was Pakistan’s first bilateral tour of India in five years. The match between the arch-rivals involves a lot of drama, fightbacks, and flare-ups.

However, it did not end on a positive note as both players were charged with 'conduct contrary to the spirit to the game'. They pleaded guilty to their unfair action on the field and the Pakistan keeper was fined 5% of his match fee. Ishant, on the other hand, was fined 15% of his fee, as he had instigated the conflict.

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