'Ishant abused me, MS Dhoni interfered otherwise...': Kamran Akmal's massive revelation ahead of Asia Cup 2023

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Ahead of the Asia Cup 2023, former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Kamran Akmal has revealed an interesting anecdote involving him and India pacer Ishant Sharma during the last bilateral series between the arch-rivals in 2012-13.

The incident took place during a T20I game in Bengaluru. As per Akmal, Ishant Sharma abused him before he returned the favour, so much so that he could have faced a ban.

“Ishant abused me. He said one bad word, in return he received 20. I'm honest here. We had our flight to Ahmedabad next day, there was a T20I match. I, Virat (Kohli), Shoaib Malik, Hafeez were sitting. Somebody asked, what exactly happened between you two. Ishant said after bowling, I just said a bad word to him. Everybody said, you deserved it coming!” Akmal said during a podcast with Roha Nadym for Cricwick.

Kamran Akmal also revealed how former India captain MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina interfered and stopped the situation from deteriorating.

“It turned out to be serious. But thankfully, Dhoni, the captain cool, then Raina also interfered. They knew who was at fault, so they settled the situation, otherwise it would've been worse. I could've been banned for two matches, penalized for 5 match fees. It was pretty serious,” said Akmal, who played 157 ODIs and 53 Tests for India.

India versus Pakistan rivalry will renew with their upcoming Asia Cup 2023 clash on September 2 in Pallekele.