Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has lashed out after a section of the Pakistani media claimed that he along with a few other Pakistan cricketers was seen partying and smoking shisha hours before the side’s crucial encounter against India in Manchester.
What was expected to be a high-voltage clash turned into a one-sided affair as Pakistan surrendered to India by 89 runs (DLS method). Malik was dismissed for a first ball duck as Pakistan stumbled in the run chase. Soon after the loss, pictures and videos started circulating on social media which showed Malik, Imad Wasim and Wahab Riaz at a Manchester restaurant. The pictures were claimed to be taken on the eve of the game and among those seen in them was Malik’s wife, Indian tennis star, Sania Mirza. The pictures did not go down well with Malik who took to Twitter to express his anger. Clarifying that the photos were taken on June 13 and not the eve of the India-Pakistan encounter, he took aim at the media for spreading untruths. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also later quashed any such claim that the players violated curfew hours before the high-profile World Cup fixture against India.
“The cricketers did not violate their curfew,” a PCB spokesperson told DawnNewsTV as quoted by the Dawn. “The videos and photographs that went viral (on social media) are from two days before the match. The day before the match against India, all the players were in their hotel rooms by curfew time.”
Mirza was also bombarded with plenty of hate posts and got involved in a war of words first with a fan who had tagged her in a tweet (now deleted) which had the video of the players allegedly partying on June 15. Mirza also hit back at Veena Malik, a Pakistani actress, who questioned her about taking her new born son to the restaurant, a claim Mirza dismissed. “That’s the video you shot without asking us, disrespecting our privacy even though we had a child with us & got told off for doing so,& u came up with this crap?FYI ‘outing’ was dinner & yes ppl are allowed to eat if they lose a match!Bunch of fools!Try better content nxt time,” Mirza wrote.
