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Cutting, Tanvir reprimanded after finger flipping incident rekindles four-year-old feud in PSL

by Wisden Staff February 16, 2022 - 12:16pm 2 minute read

Ben Cutting and Sohail Tanvir’s longstanding feud resurfaced during a PSL game on Tuesday, which saw a heated exchange and ended with the two ‘flipping the bird’ to each other.

The PSL game between Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators took a sour turn when senior players Cutting and Tanvir had a go at each other and ended up giving each other the finger. Cutting, who plays for Peshawar, walked out with the team score reading 132-5 in the 16th over. Eager to get his team to a big total, Cutting started off slowly before unleashing in the 19th over, which was bowled by Tanvir.

The batter smashed three successive sixes in the first three balls of the over, following which he gave Tanvir the finger gesture. The Australian hit another six two deliveries later, resulting in Tanvir walking up to the batter to give him an earful. The over eventually went for 27 runs, with Cutting taking a single on the last ball.

However, he was out off the very next delivery that he faced, with Cutting pulling a slower delivery towards backward point. He ended up giving an easy catch to – you guessed it – Tanvir, who was quick to show him the finger as Cutting walked back for a 14-ball 36. Both cricketers were fined 15 per cent of their match fees for breaching the PSL Code of Conduct.

What had happened in 2018 between Cutting and Tanvir?

This is not the first time the pair have had a go at each other. Back in 2018 during a Caribbean Premier League match between Guyana Amazon Warriors and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, Cutting, who represented the Patriots, smashed Tanvir for a huge six, who went on to dismiss the batter off the very next ball. As he was walking back to the pavilion, Tanvir whipped up two middle fingers to give Cutting a send-off, and the events on Tuesday seems a continuation of that rivalry.