On Day 3 of the New Year’s Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Pakistan regained control by reducing Australia to five wickets down, despite the home team facing a substantial 100-run deficit in their first innings. Aamer Jamal continued to play a pivotal role for the visiting side, dismissing Travis Head cheaply, having previously accounted for Usman Khawaja on the preceding day, thereby complementing his impressive batting performance of 82 runs.
However, Pakistan’s key player was endangered midway through the game due to an injury scare caused by the reckless actions of Abdullah Shafique, a player notorious for his past antics. During the 78th over, Head managed to flick a delivery from Mir Hamza into the square leg region, anticipating easy runs.
Both Jamal and Shafique went in pursuit of the ball. While Jamal was coming in from fine leg to retrieve it, Shafique, stationed inside the circle, unexpectedly lunged for the ball in a sliding attempt, catching his teammate off guard. In an unfortunate turn of events, Shafique’s sliding maneuver resulted in a collision with Jamal’s ankle, causing Jamal to lose his balance and fall heavily to the ground.
The incident left the cricketing legend Wasim Akram, in the commentary box, visibly dismayed, openly criticizing Shafique’s ill-judged move. Even as Shafique attempted to explain and attend to Jamal’s injury, the all-rounder’s explanation fell short, failing to convince his teammate and drawing similar skepticism from social media users.
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In a light-hearted moment, Jamal humorously signaled for a VAR review (Video Assistant Referee) and jokingly showed an imaginary card to Shafique, implying a caution for his action. Shafique’s tackle was deemed severe enough to draw comparisons on social media to the notorious footballer Pepe, evoking humorous parallels between the two instances.