Ahead of the highly anticipated Asia Cup 2023 clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, the excitement is palpable. While the players may not take the matches as seriously as the fans, there is still a strong desire to perform well against each other. Throughout the years, we have witnessed numerous rivalries between players from both teams, such as Javed Miandad vs Sunil Gavaskar, Imran Khan vs Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar vs Shoaib Akhtar, and Virat Kohli vs Pakistani bowlers. Now, a new player rivalry is emerging and it could be on display during the Asia Cup clash.
This player battle will feature India’s emerging batting star Shubman Gill and Pakistan’s ace pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi. It will be the first time that Gill will be playing against Pakistan at the international level. However, not many people know that Gill has already faced Shaheen before. This encounter took place in 2018 during the ICC U19 World Cup in New Zealand.
During that match, which was a semi-final, Gill had just scored an impressive 86 runs against Bangladesh. As he came to the crease, he was greeted by a fiery bouncer from a Pakistani pacer. Soon, Shaheen and his bowling partner Muhammad Musa started sledging Gill. According to The Indian Express, Gill did not appreciate what was being said. He recalled, “The bowler and his bowling partner came to me and said ‘hum Bangladesh ke bowlers nahi hai’ (We are not Bangladesh’s bowlers). I said nothing.”
The Pakistani bowlers wanted to prove that they were not as easy to score against as the bowlers from Bangladesh. Gill managed to keep his composure at that moment. However, he knew he needed to respond with his bat. In the next over, he pulled one of the fast bowlers for a boundary and while running between the wickets, he told Shaheen and Musa, “I am not a Pakistani batter either.”
Now, more than five years later, Shaheen and Shubman will face each other again. There is a strong possibility that Shubman could be facing the first ball of the match bowled by Shaheen. Both players will surely have that heated exchange from 5 years ago in their minds. Both have come a long way since their U19 days. Shaheen has established himself as Pakistan’s top pacer, while Shubman has become a rising star in batting. They are both 23 years old and represent the future of their respective teams. We can expect to see many more exciting clashes between Shaheen and Shubman in the future.