Shaheen Afridi furious as Breetzke collides with PAK star during heated mid-over exchange; Khushdil intervenes with SA batter

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During the final game of the ODI tri-series at the National Stadium in Karachi, tensions escalated between Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Afridi and South Africa batter Matthew Breetzke as they got into a heated altercation on Wednesday. The altercation occurred twice during an over, leading to the on-field umpire stepping in to diffuse the situation.

It started during the penultimate ball of the 28th over of the match, when Shaheen and Breetzke were seen exchanging words. The pacer looked annoyed at the batter as Mohammad Rizwan, Temba Bavuma, and the umpire intervened to settle things down. It seemed Shaheen was not happy with the South African batter taking a start for the run in the middle of the pitch.

The duo came together once again after the end of the final ball, where Shaheen furiously charged as Breetzke. Replays showed that the latter was running across for a single after hitting the shorter delivery from Shaheen towards deep square leg. While he looked to avoid colliding with the bowler, he barged into him, leaving Shaheen fuming. Fellow Pakistan player Khusdil Shah ran across and pushed Breetzke away, before the umpire intervened again.

'Concerns over the form of Shaheen'

Earlier on Tuesday, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif called for an overhaul of Pakistan's pace attack as he reckoned neither Shaheen, nor Naseem Shah are in form ahead of the Champions Trophy.

"When was the last time Afridi delivered a match-winning performance? Naseem has also not contributed significantly to Pakistan's success," the former wicketkeeper-batsman said in an interview with a channel. "I have concerns over the form of Shaheen, Naseem and others and I feel they have not performed as expected."

The left-armer finished with 3 for 88 in Pakistan's last game, against New Zealand last week. Since 2024, he has picked 19 wickets in eight innings. Naseem, on the other hand, is yet to pick up a wicket this year in two appearances. He snared 10 wickets in six ODIs last year.

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