Pakistan bowling coach Umar Gul has issued an official clarification over his supposed altercation with the team's fast bowler, Shaheen Afridi, during their Test match against Bangladesh in Sylhet.
Bangladesh is hosting Pakistan for a two-match Test series, which is part of the 2025-27 World Test Championship. Bangladesh won the first match by 104 runs in Mirpur, while the second Test started on May 16.
The Umar Gul and Shaheen Afridi incident
The altercation took place during the second day of the match. Gul and Afridi, who had been benched for the second Test after playing the first one, seemed to have a heated conversation near the boundary ropes.
The left-arm pacer seemingly said something to Umar Gul during the interaction, and when the bowling coach responded, Shaheen appeared to ignore him before moving past him. Some said that Shaheen Afridi had disrespected the team's coach, while others claimed that the discussion was around pacer Hasan Ali's head injury.
Hasan had gotten injured on the first day of the match when he fell headfirst while trying to hold on to a return catch.
Also Read: Watch: Shaheen Afridi involved in heated clash with Umar Gul after Pakistan XI snub vs Bangladesh
Umar Gul clarifies the incident
During the press conference after the third day, Gul clarified that the discussion between him and Shaheen was indeed about Hasan Ali's injury and the possibility of having to bring in a concussion substitute.
Ultimately, Hasan was declared fit to continue and took two wickets each in both innings.
"When I woke up yesterday morning, someone had tagged me on X and had written 'Shaheen is not listening to the coach. He is trying to send Shaheen inside, but he did not listen.' This incident actually happened when Hasan Ali fell and hit his head. Shaheen was sitting outside at the time."
"Shaheen has a habit of taping his elbow for protection before going on to bowl. So over there, I was discussing with him about the concussion substitute. I believe you are given half an hour to take the decision. The match referee gives you 30 minutes to inform him about who the substitute will be. So I told Shaheen, 'tape your elbows just in case we need you to bowl. God forbid something serious happens to Hasan, then you are our only option.' "
"By then, Sarfaraz [Ahmed, Pakistan Head Coach] had also arrived downstairs, and Shaheen told him that Hasan had been hit on the head. It looked like Shaheen Shah Afridi was gesturing towards his brain, to maybe comment on someone else's intelligence, but it was nothing like that."
"So, I thought that we should clear this issue. Since yesterday, a lot has been said on social media. Even our friends in the media have been messaging me repeatedly, but there is nothing like that. Shaheen Shah Afridi's reaction was purely because of Hasan Ali's injury. We didn't know the camera captured us," Gul said.
Umar Gul Denies Rumors of clash with Shaheen Afridi when Hasan Ali got injuredpic.twitter.com/YpprJyHilr
— Pakistan Cricket Team USA FC (@DoctorofCricket) May 18, 2026
Bangladesh set Pakistan 437
While Shaheen Afridi hasn't been in the best form, his absence was felt by the team.
Litton Das made an excellent century in the first innings and followed it up with a fifty in the second. Nahid Rana and Taijul Islam took three wickets each in the first innings to give Bangladesh a healthy lead.
In the second innings, Mushfiqur Rahim made a record hundred as Bangladesh gave Pakistan a target of 437 in the fourth innings. If Pakistan pulls it off, it will be the highest successful chase in the history of Test cricket.
The only bright spot for Pakistan in this Test was Shaheen Afridi's replacement, Khurram Shahzad. Shahzad took 4 wickets each in both innings.
If Bangladesh win this second Test, they will complete a 2-0 whitewash over Pakistan and move on to fifth place on the WTC points table.
