Pakistan cricket team fast bowler Naseem Shah made a controversial post on social media regarding Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz but quickly deleted it, according to Geo Super. The incident occured during the opening match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) between Lahore Qalandars and Hyderabad Kingsmen on Thursday. Maryam Nawaz was present at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore as the guest of honour and she was welcomed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi who introduced her to the franchise owners. The Chief Minister was also introduced to the players from both teams. Shortly afterwards, a post from Naseem Shah’s account on X sparked major controversy among the Pakistan fans.
The post featured a PCB video showing Naqvi greeting Maryam Nawaz.
The now-deleted message read: “Why is she being treat like the queen at Lords?”
However, the post was quickly removed and Naseem issued a clarification that the post was not intentional and his account was compromised.“This account of Naseem was recently hacked but now recovered successfully,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, in what was one of the most unusual ball changes in a long while, the Hyderabad Kingsmen’s kit left the white ball smeared with colour from the pads, changing the ball’s colour from white to maroon-ish during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) opener against Lahore Qalandars.
On Thursday, Kingsmen, wearing maroon colours, were chasing 100 runs against Lahore. During the 15th over, the ball changed as it was left smeared with the colour from their pads, and it became difficult for the batters to judge the delivery well. The matter was raised by Kingsmen skipper and Australian star Marnus Labuschagne in the second over, and the maroon-ish tinge of the ball was visible to the personnel sitting in the press box at the end of the powerplay.
Despite all that, the chase continued for a long while, and it was only in the 15th over that the ball was changed.
“I did say to the umpires after the second over, ‘What’s going on? The ball is all red’,” Labuschange said after the game as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“Obviously, it must be from the clothes or something like that. I have not seen anything like that before, but I have seen the ball take colour from the paint of the pads or from something off the bat. I am sure we will sort it out before our next game on Sunday,” he added.
The Kingsmen skipper also confirmed that the umpires had no objection to the team using the same kit for the rest of the tournament. As per ESPNCricinfo, LQ pacer Haris Rauf said that the ball might have picked up the colour from the seats in the stands, which had a green and white colour scheme.
Speaking after the game, Rauf said, ” I am not certain who got the ball changed,” Rauf said.
“We cannot ascertain whether it was because of the kit. It may well have been because of the seats, as the ball flew out of the ground quite a few times. As long as the batters continued to see the ball clearly, they batted. They may have changed it when it got difficult to pick. Had I gone to the crease to bat, I would have had it changed first ball,” he added.
After the conclusion of the match, Kingsmen congratulated their opponents for “winning their first pink-ball game”.
(With ANI inputs)