Shahid Afridi responds to Haris Rauf's respectful gesture, urges him to 'bowl slow' next time

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 Lahore Qalandars' pacer Haris Rauf gestures after taking his wicket during Eliminator 2 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 in Karachi, on November 15, 2020. — PSL/Files

Former Pakistan cricket team skipper and swashbuckling all-rounder Shahid Afridi praised Haris Rauf's "unplayable" yorker that shattered his stumps, urging the quickie to "bowl slow" to him next time. 

Read more: PSL 2020: All the times cricketers showed respect by cutting short their celebrations

A day earlier, Rauf had clean bowled Afridi by doing his stumps in with a fast-paced yorker. Rauf did not resort to his usual aggressive celebration, but joined both hands together in an obvious gesture of respect for the veteran all-rounder.

The Lahore Qalandars beat Multan Sultans by five wickets to make their way to the PSL final where they will face off against Karachi Kings — both teams have never won the PSL final.

Read more: Lahore Qalandars’ Haris Rauf completes 50 wickets to become lead T20 wicket taker of 2020

Taking to Twitter, Afridi said: "It was a great and unplayable yorker Haris, very well bowled! Please bowl slow to me next time."

The former captain thanked Multan Sultans for supporting the team and wished the Qalandars well for their final against Karachi Kings.

"Congratulations to Qalandars for [the] final berth. Look forward to an exciting match tomorrow. Thank you Sultans fans for supporting us throughout the season."

Read more: Lahore Qalandars beat Multan Sultans by 25 runs to reach PSL 2020 final

The former skipper was reacting to an interview that Rauf had given to Espncricinfo, where he said that he was not apologising to Afridi after the dismissal but had paid respect to him.

"I am usually aggressive after taking a wicket, but when I dismissed Afridi yesterday, it was different. He is a Pakistani superstar," he said.

"I didn't really apologize to him. I just had to give him some respect, and that is my style of doing it," Rauf added.