Mohammad Amir charges towards Viv Richards after dismissing Babar Azam; West Indies legend tells him to…
While the Indian Premier League continues to stand out as the most popular T20 league in the world, the Pakistan Super League across the border is producing some impressive cricket. The evergreen beauty of these leagues is how they pit their teammates against each other. Last night, in Delhi, KL Rahul was up against Virat Kohli, and the two had a bit of a heated exchange in the middle. Similarly, in the PSL too, two of Pakistan cricket's most prominent names squared off when Mohammad Amir bowled to Babar Azam during the Quetta Gladiators vs Peshawar Zalmi match on Sunday.
Amir gave Babar a testing time. He bowled four balls to Babar, all of which caused the former Pakistan captain to struggle. Amir's first ball was a bouncer, striking Babar flush on the crash helmet. The batter underwent a concussion test, but things didn't improve. Babar just managed a single off Amir's bowling before his time in the middle ended. A vicious inswinger from the left-arm pacer rapped Babar on the pads, and the batter was stone dead. Up went the finger in a jiffy, and Babar was on his way back.
However, Amir's celebration took the cake. The veteran pacer was over the moon and charged towards the Gladiators' dugout, where mentor Viv Richards was present. Amir gestured at Richards in celebration of the wicket, but the West Indies legend told him to keep calm, chill out and continue with the good work. Amir finished with 1/18 but it was his teammate Faheem Ashraf, who stole the show with a five-wicket-haul. Faheem bagged 5/33 from 3.3 overs to help the Gladiators beat Zalmi by a whopping 64 runs.
Babar, with 117 runs, is not even in the top 10 of the highest run-getters list in PSL 2025, whereas Amir is placed 12th with 7 wickets. As for their teams, Zalmi is struggling, in fourth place, with two wins from six matches. The Gladiators are doing better than Zalmi, but at third with six points, aren't completely out of the woods yet.
"Babar Azam will soon regain his form. A king is one who rules over all. No matter how good a batter you are, everyone goes through a rough patch. This is not the first time he's faced such a phase. Babar is a very good player," Richards told Cricket Pakistan.
"I am sure he will get back to form very soon. I believe when you watch players like Kohli and Babar, they appear to do justice to the game of cricket."
Amir had expressed his desire to play the Indian Premier League. In fact, the hero of Pakistan's Champions Trophy 2017 final, Amir, in a stunning take, pointed out that he is close to playing the IPL next year. It is to be noted that no Pakistan cricketer has played in the IPL, barring the first edition back in 2008. Since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, Pakistani cricketers have been banned from participating in the IPL. Amir may sound hopeful of changing it, but it is unlikely to change given the recent unfortunate incident in Pahalgam.
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