“Our people like him very much,” Shahid Afridi urges Virat Kohli to come to Pakistan, promises unparalleled hospitality

Shahid Afridi believes that the kind of welcome that Virat Kohli would receive in Pakistan would be absolutely unmatched even in India.

“Our people like him very much,” Shahid Afridi urges Virat Kohli to come to Pakistan, promises unparalleled hospitality

Virat Kohli and Shahid Afridi, image courtesy: X

With the verbal duel running amok about whether India should go to Pakistan to be a part of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, Shahid Afridi made a fascinating comment about Virat Kohli that left the world intrigued and amused at the same time.

Talking to News24 Sports’ YouTube channel, Shahid Afridi said that he is welcoming the Indian cricket team to Pakistan. He said that the hospitality that he and his team has received in India has been massive. Similarly, the kind of hospitality that the Indian cricket team has received during their tour of 2005 was equally amazing. Afridi believes that politics at all cost should be kept away from the beautiful game of cricket.

YouTube video
Virat will forget the love he has received in India when he would play in Pakistan. He has a huge craze in Pakistan and our people like him very much. In fact, he is my favourite player. He has his own class and he shouldn't have retired from T20Is as because of him T20I looked beautiful.
Shahid Afridi further stated on the News24 Sports’ YouTube channel

Afridi had no chip on his shoulder while unreservedly heaping praises on the Indian cricketers. He shared immense admiration for Shubman Gill as the next big thing in Indian cricket after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli while underscoring the importance of IPL in developing India’s cricketing scene by leaps and bounds.

He was also not happy about how the Pakistan cricket board has been managed. He believes that the manager of PCB should be getting a much longer tenure than what one usually does as that would give him some time to make a few tough decisions and eventually see the game for a longer point in time with a certain plan in place.

A glance at the current status of affairs in terms of India traveling to Pakistan to play the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025

India’s last tour to Pakistan was back in 2005 while another tour was being planned to happen in 2008. However, the Mumbai terror attack led to the indefinite suspension of any tour whatsoever to Pakistan. As the last Asia Cup was being held collectively in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, India played all their games in the latter.

Shahid Afridi
Babar Azam, Rohit Sharma (Image via X)

As far as the conditions stand, PCB has proposed that all of India’s games will be held in Lahore with maximum security in place. However, as far as the confirmation of the Indian government goes, they have denied to travel to Pakistan and are not convinced about Lahore either.

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