Watch: Pakistan Shaheens spinner Sufyan Muqeem gave India A's Abhishek Sharma a send-off, flaring tempers between the two players during the India-Pakistan clash at the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Al Amerat, Oman.
India chose to bat first in their first match of the tournament, against arch-rivals Pakistan. Abhishek Sharma, who already has a T20I century to his name, opened the batting alongside Prabhsimran Singh, the Punjab Kings wicketkeeper-batter.
The duo got India off to a flying start, getting to 68-0 after six overs. Abhishek had raced off to 35 off 20 balls, having hit five fours and two sixes. Immediately after the powerplay, left-arm wrist-spinner Sufyan Muqeem was introduced to the attack. The 24-year-old spinner, who has played three T20Is for Pakistan at the 2023 Asian Games, got the wicket of Abhishek with his first delivery, getting him caught by Qasim Akram at point.
Following the dismissal, Muqeem looked at Abhishek's direction with his finger on his lips before signalling him to walk off the ground. Abhishek reacted to Muqeem's send-off by coming towards him and exchanging a few words, before the umpires intervened to de-escalate the situation.
India eventually scored 183-8. Muqeem finished with figures of 2-28 from his four overs. Pakistan weren't able to chase the score down as they fell short by seven runs in the end, with Anshul Kamboj picking up three wickets for 33 runs for India.
Watch Sufyan Muqeem's send-off to Abhishek Sharma in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup:
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