Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad’s live chat on Instagram with Kevin Pietersen went viral on social media, after the former England cricketer grilled the Quetta Gladiators batsman for his poor performance in the now-suspended fifth edition of Pakistan Super League. The live session quickly turned into an embarrassing occasion for Shehzad as Pietersen was seen mocking him for making excuses for his batting failures as well as his hairstyle. The flamboyant former England star received considerable backlash from Pakistan fans for treating Shehzad in a condescending manner.

However, the 28-year-old opener has now come out with a clarification that it was nothing but friendly banter between two mates and people should avoid making unnecessary controversy out of it. “In times of a global crisis, if someone is trying to spread positivity &a few laughs it should be encouraged rather than being criticised. It was all about a fun chat between two good friends. Please don’t manipulate banter as mocking. Grow up,” Shehzad tweeted. Pietersen agreed with Shehzad as he thought the duo had a fun interaction and treated each other like when they were teammates at Quetta Gladiators. “Buddy, we had a fun laugh yesterday & treated each other like we were in the dressing room. D***heads will ruin this for the fun people who actually laughed and enjoyed it like we did! You keep doing the great charity work up in North Pakistan,” Pietersen tweeted in his reply to Shehzad. The Lahore-born opener also advised Pietersen to not be bothered by people trolling him over the aforementioned interaction. “Don’t worry about the people who aren’t happy for u. They probably aren’t happy for themselves either. Jealousy is a disease folks please stay safe,” he tweeted.