An open letter to Shahid Afridi

If not for the fact you are older than me I would tell you to grow up.

Vaqas March 28, 2011
After helping this nation come together for over a month in support of the one element that we all feel pride in, and even an honourable concession speech after the semi-final, you managed to flush away all the goodwill you and the team earned.

Your comments were racist, insensitive and childish to the extreme. So what if the Indian media treated you differently? So what if Rehman Malik played to the gallery? So what if Gautam Gambhir said something that was undeniably stupid?

The Indian media was always going to be harsh with you, lest you forget that you are captain of India’s biggest sporting rival.

Rehman Malik can say whatever he wants. He is a politician and not bound by any duty to make sense.

Gambhir, according to many in India, may have made the most patriotic statement of all, unless of course we need a history lesson on how and why the Mumbai attacks went down.

If you do not like mixing sports with politics, start by refusing the money you are getting from the government for the team’s performance.

If one thinks that Indians, no wait, Hindus, are disgusting small-hearted people, then we should say that to Danish Kaneria’s face as well.

If you think Rehman Malik’s warning on match-fixing was ill-advised, perhaps it would do you well to remember three of your teammates were banned for match-fixing in the last year. In fact, the present coach and former teammate Waqar Younis was censured by the Justice Qayyum Commission which probed allegations of match-fixing in Pakistani cricket in the 1990s.

As far as Gambhir’s statement goes, he is an idiot for saying it, but you are a bigger one for picking it up. What he said was in the hearts of many in India, but the fact that his teammates refrained from making the same comparison shows that he was just being childish.

What is your excuse? That it never happened? That he is being mean? If not for the fact you are older than me I would tell you to grow up. Instead all I can say is stop being a prima donna and act your age.
WRITTEN BY:
Vaqas
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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