Shahid Afridi has spoken about the incident when Shoaib Akhtar was sent back home from the Pakistan team for having hit teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat. Saying that he had no hand in the infamous episode, Afridi said he had only gone to save the situation when he saw Akhtar angry.

“Things happen within the team when you’re with each other more than you’re with your families. There are some people who can take a joke and some people who can’t. I did not have a hand in the incident, I only went in to save the situation when I saw Shoaib angry,” Afridi said on a video interview with Samaa.

“Asif had sided with me in a joke which enraged Shoaib and all this happened. But Shoaib has a very beautiful heart, despite all the show of aggression he does. It’s natural for a fast bowler,” Afridi added.

Afridi was referring to the 2007 incident when reports surfaced that pacer Shoaib Akhtar had hit his teammate Mohammed Asif with a bat. The reports were confirmed later and Akhtar was called back from the 2007 ICC World T20 in South Africa.

Akhtar had previously talked about the incident in his autobiography, Controversially Yours, where he accused Afridi of aggravating the situation.

“Afridi was aggravating the situation and I swung the bat at both of them. Afridi ducked, but Asif couldn’t get out of the way, the bat struck him on his thighs and he collapsed. I had lost it. I had never behaved like this, especially in the dressing room,” wrote Shoaib.

According to reports from the time, the fight between the two started after Asif and Afridi disagreed with Shoaib that he shared the same stature as Imran Khan in Pakistan cricket.