World Cup 2019: Pakistan and Afghanistan fans fight outside Headingley during the match

Pakistan and Afghanistan are currently fighting it out at Headingley in Leeds in the ongoing World Cup. Gulbadin Naib won the toss and opted to bat and are faring decently with the bat at the moment. Afghanistan defeated the Men in Green in the warm-up match and no wonder even the fans were confident of the team repeating the heroics. There is definitely a needle between the fans of the two countries which was also evident during the Asia Cup when Afghanistan came close to beating Pakistan.

However, the rivalry between the fans took an ugly turn ahead of the encounter in Leeds. Some of the Afghan and Pakistani fans were involved in a feud just outside the stadium. Though the reason for the same is still not known, the visuals weren’t really good. The Pakistani fan was being beaten by some of the Afghanistan people even as the security personnel had to intervene to calm things down.

It seemed as if there were two groups, one each supporting their own country and started fighting suddenly for unknown reasons. The video of the feud is already going viral and definitely, these things are unnecessary when two teams are doing well at the international level.

Here is the video:

A good contest between the two teams

As far as the on-field contest is concerned, Afghanistan got off to a decent start. Though they lost two quick wickets, runs came at a decent pace with Rahmat Shah looking in good touch. The good work was then carried on by Asghar Afghan who looked ominous with the bat during his 35-ball 42-run stay. However, Najibullah Zadran looking good in the middle, Afghanistan will be hoping to post a total close to 250.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have done well so far and would be looking to clean up the last four wickets of the opposition. It’s a must-win game for them and they cannot afford to let Afghanistan score more than 250.