'Never seen something like that' - Nikhil Chopra on crowd trouble after Pakistan-Afghanistan clash

The verbal spat between Fareed Malik and Asif Ali on the field gave rise to the brawl between the Pakistan and Afghanistan fans in the stands after the two teams met in Asia Cup 2022. Ahead of the last league fixture of Asia Cup 2022, the former cricketers Nikhil Chopra and Vijay Dahiya shared their views on the aftermath of a nail-biting fixture on Wednesday.

Chopra expressed his disbelief at the physical altercations between the supporters and added that the fans being passionate about the team is their right, but they should not build a negative atmosphere.

“I was shocked and a little surprised that these types of things happening and getting exaggerated in cricket. You often see in football, where fans are fighting in the Premier League matches,” said Nikhil Chopra via 'BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker.

“On the flip side, not only the players are passionate for their teams, but fans as well. But they should not translate their energies to negativity and exhibit their anger,” he added.

Such things not good for the game of cricket: Vijay Dahiya

Dahiya reckoned the incident left a bad taste as things went out of control, which should not have happened. He added that despite Pakistan-Afghanistan not having rivalries like India-Pakistan and England-Australia, things escalated. The 49-year-old further hoped that the cricket fraternity will not witness these clashes in the future.

“Afghanistan is an emerging team, and there are a lot of supporters for them. Everyone thinks of them as an underdog and hope for their victory. Those fans will also not like these types of things happening with the team,” said Dahiya.