Afridi clarifies ‘love in India’ remarks after legal notice

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Web Desk
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Afridi clarifies ‘love in India’ remarks after legal notice

By: Faizan Lakhani

KARACHI: In an attempt to tone down the unnecessary controversy ahead of Pakistan’s World T20 campaign, Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said on Monday he didn’t mean any disrespect to Pakistani cricket fans by saying he gets more love in India even more than Pakistan.

“Whatever I am today, is only because of Pakistan and the fans in Pakistan,” said the flamboyant all-rounder. “Nothing is more important to me than Pakistan and people of Pakistan,” he added.

Afridi’s clarification came after his statement that Pakistani cricketers are loved more in India than Pakistan stirred a controversy.

Angry fans took it to social media to bash the T20 captain, TV anchors damned him during live shows and to add injury to the insult, two different petitions were filed against him in courts.

Afridi had also been served a legal notice by a local advocate from Lahore.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Afridi had said: "We have always enjoyed playing in India. People here always give us a lot of love."

"There are very few nations where I've enjoyed cricket as much as I've enjoyed cricket in India. We got a lot of love here, we did not get this much love even in Pakistan, I can tell you. We always enjoyed playing here," he had said, sparking criticism from many Pakistani fans.

According to the notice sent to Afridi, the remarks made by the all-rounder were against the interest of Pakistan, therefore, he should apologize to the nation and withdraw his statements.

Afridi said that his statement was in a positive and diplomatic way, but unfortunately it was presented in bitter and negative manner.

“I wanted to say that Pakistani cricketers are always respected in India, and that’s a fact,” said the Pakistan skipper.

“Ask Wasim bhai, ask Ramiz bhai, ask Imran bhai, everyone would agree with me,” he added.

Shahid Afridi went on to say that he believed only cricket can bring people of Pakistan together and his statement was in same context. 

“I was positive in my statement, but if someone wants to be negative about everything then he’ll surely get negative out of everything you do,” he said.