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When Gambhir, Kamran got involved in an ugly spat during 2010 India-Pakistan Asia Cup clash

WION Web Team
New Delhi, India Updated: Aug 12, 2022, 07:39 PM IST
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Before the upcoming India-Pakistan face-off in the 2022 Asia Cup, here's a throwback video of Gautam Gambhir-Kamran Akmal's heated exchange from the 2010 edition.

India and Pakistan are gearing up to resume their rivalry on the 22-yard cricket strip as both sides will meet each other in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 edition. The forthcoming edition will be held in the UAE in the shortest format (for the second time in the tournament history) as India and Pakistan will play their respective opening game versus each other, in Dubai, on August 28.

There's a lot of hype regarding the upcoming India-Pakistan clash. Moreover, the upcoming Asia Cup season can see the two Asian giants clash with each other on as many as three occasions. India and Pakistan are very likely to meet in the Super Four round and can also end up locking horns in the summit clash, which will be the first-ever finale featuring both teams in the tournament history.

Ahead of the 2022 Asian championship, let us recall former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and veteran Pakistan keeper-batter Kamran Akmal's ugly spat during the 2010 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. In a tight contest, in Dambulla, Shahid Afridi-led Men in Green rode on Salman Butt's 74 and Kamran's 51 to post 267 all-out in 49.3 overs. 

In reply, Gambhir's 83, then Indian skipper MS Dhoni's 56, Suresh Raina's 27-ball 34 and Harbhajan Singh's 11-ball 15 not out propelled India to a stunning three-wicket win. However, there was a lot of action and drama during India's tense run-chase. At the time of Dhoni-Gambhir's 98-run third-wicket stand, the latter and Kamran got involved in a heated exchange following a caught-behind appeal from the Pakistani stumper. Here's the video:

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In an interview with Vikram Sathaye, Gambhir had spilled the beans on the incident and told, "It happened in the heat of the moment. When India and Pakistan play each other then obviously it is a tense game."

“Good or a bad thing you can say but whatever arguments happened between us was during the drinks break. Instead of showing advertisements during the break Neo channel opted to show our heated arguments," the former southpaw revealed.

On being asked the main reason behind the heated exchange, Gambhir replied, "I had tried to play and missed it fully. He appealed in such a way that he thought that the ball hit the bat. Then I told him that there is no point in appealing because nothing like that happened, we just got into a heated argument and then it just got from bad to worse."

During the epic face-off between the two players, few more Pakistani players had jumped in before the umpires and Dhoni separated Kamran and Gambhir, respectively. In the end overs, Harbhajan-Shoaib Akhtar also had a war of words.

Dhoni-led India won the Asia Cup in 2010, beating hosts Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final.