Asia Lions took on India Maharajas in the first match of Legends League Cricket 2023 at West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha. Asia Lions skipper Shahid Afridi almost hugged the female umpire as he got excited after his team Asia Lions defeated India Maharajas by 9 runs in a close encounter.
Shahid Afridi tries to hug female umpire in LLC 2023, video goes viral on social media
In the opening game of the ongoing Legends League Cricket Masters 2023 Asia Lions defeated India Maharajas by nine runs. Asia Lions captain Shahid Afridi felt quite delightful after the victory and went on to hug former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Just after embracing Harbhajan Singh, Afridi went ahead and almost hugged the female umpire. However, the former Pakistan skipper quickly backed off and shook her hand instead. Netizens were left in splits after the hilarious incident and the video went viral across social media platforms.
It’s worth noting that Shahid Afridi has a knack of getting into controversies and has been criticised multiple times during his career. The former Pakistan skipper narrowly escaped a controversy by backing off from embracing the female umpire.
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Speaking about the game, Asia Lions posted a competitive total of 165-6 in their 20 overs after their opener Upul Tharanga anchored the innings. Tharanga scored 40 runs off 39 deliveries including 2 maximum while it was Misbah Ul Haq who gave Asia Lions’ innings the necessary momentum. Misbah scored a scintillating 73 off just 50 deliveries including 2 fours and 4 sixes.
India Maharajas pacer Parvinder Awana and Stuart Binny scalped a couple of wickets each while both Irfan Pathan and Ashok Dinda took 1 wickets each.
In response to Asia Lions’ total, India Maharajas lost their opener Robin Uthappa without scoring after which their skipper Gautam Gambhir scored a crucial 54 off just 39 deliveries including 7 boundaries. Former Indian test opener Murali Vijay and Mohammad Kaif too got starts but couldn’t convert it into big scores.
Left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir dismissed 3 India Maharajas batters and made sure they fell short of the Asia Lions’ total. Isuru Udana, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thisara Perera and Abdul Razzaq scalped a wicket each. None of the India Maharajas batter converted their starts as they could only score 156 runs in their 20 overs and fell short by 9 runs as Asia Lions defeated them in the opening game of Legends League Cricket Masters 2023.