Retired Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh took a dig at Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar as the latter criticized English bowler Jofra Archer's attitude after hitting Steve Smith around the neck. Akhtar took to twitter and stated that bouncers are part and parcel of cricket and whenever a batsman is hit on the head, it's courtesy to go and check on him. He also mentioned that during his time he used to do so when a batsman got hit and said that it was not nice of Archer to walk away while Smith was in pain.
"Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman," he tweet read.
In reply to that Yuvraj Singh jokingly said that the Rawalpindi Express used to do so and tell the batsman that a few more are coming.
"Yes you did ! But your actual words were hope your alright mate cause there are a few more coming," his tweet read.
Yuvraj's reply has gone viral on social media and netizens are enjoying the friendly banter between the two.
The incident being mentioned was Archer, while bowling on day four in the second Test of the Ashes at Lords, delivering a dangerous bouncer to Steve Smith who was batting on 80 runs and anchoring the Australian innings. The brutal delivery hit the Australian cricketer around the neck and the batsman went down in pain. He then had to go through a concussion test also.
During the time Smith was laying on the ground and suffering the pain, Archer did not walk up to him and check on him. Moreover, the Test debutant was spotted smiling as he walked up to Jos Buttler. Archer's response was not at all taken in good spirits by the cricketing world as they questioned him about his sporting spirit.
Smith was later ruled out of the Test though he had come out later in Australia's innings and added 12 runs to his score before being out lbw to Chris Woakes. In the second innings, Marnus Labuschagne was brought in as a substitute for Smith. The fixture did not yield any result as Australia managed to salvage a draw on the fifth day.
