The former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif made headlines when he replied to Virender Sehwag’s comments on India’s matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh. His video started making rounds on the internet and caused outrage on social media as he used foul language for Sehwag. Out of the blue, Latif became famous for lashing out at Sehwag. He got critcised by Indian media and fans as well for using foul language trying to incite a ‘war of words’ between the two. Later on, he got lashed out by Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary for taking Sehwag. But, it seems like Latif has calmed down after the Asian teams made it into the semi-finals of ICC Champions Trophy 2017. It almost feels like, he took a U-turn as he started praising both the teams and wants them to unite and play against each other more often.
Latif pointed out at the coincidence of three Asian teams and England playing the semi-finals, he said, “I think this is the first time that a country which was one pre-partition has now three semi-finalists. The most viewership in cricket is in India and Pakistan. I want to thank everyone who supported Pakistan after the loss to India. But we need to learn from our mistake to beat England. I think we will reach the final and will play against India,”
The former Pakistani wicketkeeper also hopes for an India vs Pakistan final, he said, “What better than an India-Pakistan final. The whole world will see. Cricket is like power as most people understand, play and watch the game. It’s a proud moment for the sub-continent,”
Latif refrained from replying to Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary’s video in which he termed his actions as ’60 seconds of fame’, he said, “I am receiving a lot of messages that I should reply to Tiwary. I don’t watch. I only speak and people listen. We don’t want to break. We want to unite the two countries. There should be a bilateral series between the two nations,”
Though he did not refrain from taking a dig at media of both the countries, he said, “The Indian media and Pakistan media are happy about controversies. They think about hits. No one thinks about uniting.”
