Was it a googly or did Afridi hit his own wicket?

“We get more love from Indian fans than at home,” he announced diplomatically or not.

The Indians were left wondering if they should run for cover because wasn’t this the same Afridi who had once accused them of not being big-hearted?

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Javed Miandad roared, calling it a crying shame and perhaps just stopped short of asking Afridi to become Adnan Sami’s new neighbour. But even Miandad’s sharp mind may have under-estimated Afridi’s most recent flip-flop.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, though, seems to think it’s a masterstroke, to temper down the hostility of the hysterical sub-continental fans ahead of the big clash on the 19th.

To be honest, animosity is not how I would describe the atmosphere in most Indo-Pak matches. Instead, both countries wearing their patriotism on their sleeves bellow emotions that are a mix of ego, prestige and joy.

I have lost my voice shouting during an India-Pak World Cup match, but it was more for India to win than for Pakistan to lose.

Explore: Should there be no Indian cricket fans in Pakistan?

But to expect anything else from the crowd, especially in a World Cup encounter, is unrealistic. A match in Pakistan would be no different and sometimes the pressure that we, the fans, put on our respective teams manifests into ugly scenes.

Two Pakistani hockey players were suspended and the team had to apologise after their raucous reaction to beating India in a heart-skipping Champions Trophy Semi-final in Dec 2014.

The thrill of beating your biggest rival on their home ground is unrivalled.
So it is also the law of the Indo-Pak hood, that fans of one team will always wait to hit a ‘mauke pe chauka’ when they can and Indians grabbed the opportunity with both hands after Afridi’s startling remarks.

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Twitter was predictably abuzz like this gem from @rameshsrivats, ‘maybe Afridi is under the impression that all those hindi movies called Shahid are actually about him.’