‘Some fights get personal’ – Gautam Gambhir on equations with former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi

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Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has regularly exchanged verbal exchanges with former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi on Twitter in the past few months. The Twitter tiff started after Afridi launched a vicious attack on Gambhir in his autobiography earlier this year, and called him out as someone who does not have a personality and has an attitude problem. Gambhir was recently questioned on tense relations with Afridi, and the cricketer-turned-politician said that it grew into a personal rivalry between the two.

Speaking in an interview to Indian Express, the BJP MP said: “Some fights do get personal and there is nothing wrong with that. It has been like that for a very long time. Sometimes it is nice to get personal with someone.”

Gambhir, who has played 147 ODIs, 58 Tests and 37 T20Is in the Indian jersey further said that he enjoyed good relations with some Pakistan cricketers, but never had one with Afridi, during his cricketing days. “I have had decent relationships with Pakistani players, off the field, but not with Shahid Afridi. So that is the reason we got personal,” he said.

The former left-handed batsman also took a sly dig at Afridi, saying that the cricketer “will never write”. He added that he is fine with having a sour relation with the former Pakistan captain.

“Now obviously he doesn’t play but you never know, he might just make a comeback. He will never retire… There is a bit of history to that (the relationship with Afridi), I am fine with that.”

Gambhir announced his retirement from all formats of cricket in 2018. In his career, the left-handed batsman amassed 4,154 Test runs, 5,238 ODi runs and 932 T20I runs. The 37-year-old also scored 9 Test hundreds and 11 ODI hundreds.