File image of former Pakistan player Imran Nazir© YouTube
Between 1999 and 2012, Imran Nazir played eight Tests, 79 ODIs and 25 T20Is for the Pakistan cricket team. He was also part of Pakistan squad for the inaugural 2007 T20 World Cup. However, he could never get a long run as other players upstaged him with good performance. He recently narrated a bone chilling incident where he claimed that he was poisoned. The former opening batter said that he was diagnosed with mercury poisoning. He also mentioned that Shahid Afridi provided him financial support during his treatment.
“When I got treated, including MRI and all, it was diagnosed that i was poisoned by somebody. It was mercury. It is a slow poison. It reaches your joint and damages them. All my joints got affected, were damaged. I suffered for five to six years. I prayed to God, ‘Please don’t make me bedridden’. And thankfully, that never happened,” Nazir said on the Nadir Ali podcast.
“When and what did I eat, I cannot figure out. Because the poison doesn’t react instantly. I still never wished bad for whoever did this. I am fit now. I am doing fine. All my savings got exhausted. Shahid Afridi helped me with money. He helped me at a time when I was suffering. He told me ‘take as much money as you want’. It was around 40-50 lakh. This happened about three years back. Afridi told his manager that I should be given the money without any question.”
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi recently gave his take on the Asia Cup deadlock between India and Pakistan.
“The main problem is we don’t sit together and talk. Like we are sitting here and talking, politicians should also come together and talk. They have huge responsibility,” Shahid Afridi said in a press meet on the sidelines of Legends League Cricket.
“It would have been really nice if India had come. It would have been a step towards cricket and Pakistan for India. This is not a generation of wars and fights, we want relationships to get better. We have played against India with a lot of love and affection. I remember when we came to India, we got an outstanding response. If you remember the 2005 series, Harbhajan and Yuvraj used to go shopping and to restaurants, and no one used to charge them money. This is the beauty of the two nations.”
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