Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir is quite outspoken in nature. He never shies away from speaking his mind and his opinions often spark an outrage on social media.

On Saturday (September 2), Gambhir expressed his reservations against cricketers showing too much camaraderie on the field with players of the rival team.

His comments came during the Asia Cup 2023 clash between India and Pakistan in Pallekele when the likes of Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and Shadab Khan were seen sharing a laughter.

“When you play on the field for your national team, you must leave the friendship outside the boundary ropes. Game face hona zaroori hai. Dosti bahaar rehni chahiye. There has to be an aggression in the eyes of both sets of players. You can be as friendly as you want after those six or seven hours of cricket. Those hours are very important, because you’re not just representing yourself, you’re representing a nation of over a billion,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

“These days you see players of rival teams patting each other on the back and exchanging fist bumps during a match. You would never see that a few years ago. Aap friendly match hi khel rahe ho.”

Days later, former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi reacted to Gambhir’s comment, stating that cricketers are ambassadors of their respective countries and it’s important to send a positive message.

“That is his thought. I think differently. We are cricketers and ambassadors as well, we all have fans across the globe. So it is better to send out message of love and respect. Yes there is aggression on the field, but there is life off the field as well,” Afridi told the Pakistan media when asked about Gambhir's remark.

While the group-stage match between India and Pakistan got abandoned due to incessant rain, the arch-rivals will next face each other again in the Super-4 round of Asia Cup 2023 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday (September 10).