Muqeem's aggressive gesture to Abhishek led to a heated spat between the two.
India A won the toss and got off to a flying start in their innings. In the high-pressure game against Pakistan A, opening batsmen Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh came out fire and helped their team to a solid start.
Abhishek had a brilliant outing, scoring 35 runs off 22 balls. He batted at a strike rate of roughly 160 and scored five fours and two sixes in his innings. He and Prabhsimran Singh (36) added 68 runs to their opening partnership.
Abhishek was at his aggressive best, blasting bowlers across the field. He had a terrific start with the bat but was unable to continue it. Sufiyan Muqeem removed the Southpaw while attempting to knock the ball out of the park for a six.
Sufiyan Muqeem aggressively sent off the batter as Abhishek Sharma was out-caught. He pointed to the exit and instructed the batter to leave the field. However, this did not go well with Abhishek Sharma, who stopped while returning to the dug out and had a few words with Muqeem.
Umpires and Prabhsimran Singh managed to calm down Abhishek, while Pakistan players did the same with Muqeem before things escalated further.
Here is the video:
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit criticized Muqeem’s behavior, emphasizing that young cricketers need to learn sportsmanship and respect for opponents.
“The cricket was top-class, but one thing that really upset me was the incident involving Sufiyan Muqeem and Abhishek Sharma. If I were sitting in the dugout or the team manager, I would have told Sufiyan, ‘Son, pick up your things and go back.’ You haven’t even played proper cricket for Pakistan yet, and you’re already using abusive language—what kind of behavior is this?” Basit said.
Referring to Muqeem’s send-off gesture after dismissing Abhishek Sharma, Basit added, “You’re hurling abuses—did you take a hat-trick or something? (Aap gaaliyan de rahe hai, kya aapne hat-trick leliya?) You’re not at that level yet. The management needs to teach young players how to respect the opposition.”
India A had scored 183/8 in 20 overs after electing to bat first. Captain Tilak Varma top-scored with 44, while Prabhsimran (36), Abhishek (35), and Nehal Wadhera (25) contributed as well.
In response, Pakistan Shaheens gave a close chase with Arafat Minhas (41) leading the way. But Anshul Kamboj (3/33) and two wickets each by Rasikh Salam and Nishant Sindhu helped India A keep Pakistan to 176/7 and won the match by 7 runs.