Shoaib Akhtar criticized on Twitter for praising India

Both India and Pakistan have been putting up splendour performances in their respective games. While India registered their first ever T20I series win in England, Pakistan emerged victorious in the T20I Tri Series that also involved Australia and Zimbabwe. Pakistan top the ranking charts for T20Is while India is ranked no.2 by the ICC.

Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar was all praise for both the neighbouring countries. He showered his congratulatory messages and portrayed how both the teams were dominating the shorter format. He further went on to laud Rohit Sharma for his spectacular century. He became the second player after Colin Munro to post 3 centuries in T20Is.

Here’s what he tweeted

Pakistan beats Australia in a thriller & now in decider Hindustan beats England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 comprehensively that goes to shows that subcontinent teams are so well equipped in shorter format ..
But outstanding innings by Rohit Sharma..
3 hundred in T20 is something else .

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) July 8, 2018

“Pakistan beats Australia in a thriller & now in decider Hindustan beats England comprehensively that goes to shows that subcontinent teams are so well equipped in shorter format ..
But outstanding innings by Rohit Sharma..
3 hundred in T20 is something else .”

However, the tweet wasn’t taken in right sense by some of the Pakistan fans. They accused Shoaib Akhtar of trying to please the Indians. Some of them felt that Fakhar Zaman deserved more praise or that the special mention for Rohit Sharma wasn’t required. While their argument was absurd, it was surprising to read the same.

Here are some of the tweets by fans who weren’t amused with Shoaib Akhtar’s praise for India

Goud main lay lay Rohit ko

— Ammar Ashraf (@AmmarAshraf) July 8, 2018

Agar fakhar zaman ka name late tou pansi hojati kya .???
Ya jill hojaty apney player ka hosla b barana chahye….

— faheem khan (@Faheemu85485360) July 8, 2018

Jitni tareef kro inki phr bhi star wale tmhein nae bhulaein ge

— Ameer Bakhsh Khosa (@AmeerKhan072) July 8, 2018

Star sports channel ma job mil jae ge apko thora khush kro Inko

— Muhammad Saqib (@Muhammadsaqib67) July 8, 2018

Apna pathan bhi 91 maar k gaya hy aaj Shaibi usko bhi encouragr kro…Rohit tou Rohit hy phr😁

— Muhammad Farrukh (@MFarrukhSalam) July 8, 2018

Bc kab tak attention le ga india ki

— Saim khan (@Saimism_) July 8, 2018

No appreciation for Fakhar Zaman @shoaib100mph

— Zubi (@ZubiZubairamin) July 9, 2018

agr india ko praise na krty tu kia jata.

— Summera Nosheen (@NosheeSumera) July 9, 2018

However, to every bad side, there is a good side as well which rarely gets displayed. While there is rivalry between both nations, there is an equal number of people who believe in unity. Many fans praised Shoaib Akhtar for his tweets and wished to watch India and Pakistan games. It was heartening to see the amount of respect unlike the hatred above.

Here are some of the tweets where Shoaib Akhtar was praised by fans from both the countries:-

Today Asian proud moment we India and Pakistan defeated world class best team congrats to both team and country❤️👌👬👍

— SHIVAAKARTHIKEYAN R (@dbakarthik28) July 8, 2018

Greetings from India Shoaib!!! Congratulations to India & Pak for a great win. Like two brothers wining.

— Jai (@jaiparmar99) July 8, 2018

Broad thinking.Really asian teams have capability to do if they play with team spirit

— Mir Muzaffar (@MirMuzaffar19) July 9, 2018

Yeah.. We are Happy to see Pakistani and Indian team both winners. … Congratulations Asians..
Dua hai k Pak or India k drmyan ki Lraie or Nfrat, Mohabbat or Izzat me tabdeel ho jay.. Amen

— Hassan Siddiq (@HassanB18755532) July 9, 2018

Two fabolous run chases today by two very young & talented teams both on a series & trophy winning effort. What a feast it will be if India/Pak can play against each other. Cricket & cricket lovers are the sore loser.

— kps (@saktawat) July 8, 2018

Correct sir Asia ki ye dono team shandaar hain koi mukabla hi nhi udhar pakistaan ne Australia ko aur idhar india ne england ko

— Bhupendra Sen (@bhupendrasen888) July 9, 2018

Good person who sees India and Pakistan equally. He wished to Dhoni than Great Dada now wishing on India wins against England. We need this type of person to create friendship between these two countries.

— Bipin Singh 🇮🇳 (@bipinchuphal25) July 8, 2018

The only Pakistani player who wished MSD and now tweets about #INDvsENG
Others like Afridi should learn to apart politics from cricket

— Subh_as_is (@Substy_Papun) July 8, 2018