WATCH: When excessive appealing caused on-field feud between Gautam Gambhir and Kamran Akmal during an Asia Cup Encounter

In one of the infamous, heated exchanges on a cricket field, India opener Gautam Gambhir and Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were seen having an ugly confrontation having walked right close to each other, before being separated by the umpires and players.

The Incident

India, chasing a victory target of 268, were on course with Gambhir and the then skipper MS Dhoni adding a steady fourth-wicket stand, after the latter had walked in at 82/2 in the 18th over. On the final ball of the 34th, Gambhir, batting on 83, misread a top-spinner from Saeed Ajmal, and the ball sneaked between his bat and pad through to Akmal’s gloves, who went up in a loud appeal.

Umpire Billy Bowden remained unmoved and unfussed, calling for a drinks break right away. Notably, Akmal, who had struck a brisk 51 off 41 earlier on the day, had made one such appeal with skipper Shahid Afridi bowling to Gambhir earlier in the innings too, and Gambhir clearly appeared upset on each occasion. The two had heated exchanges, having walked right at each other during the drinks break, before the umpires and Dhoni intervened to separate them.

Gambhir was eventually dismissed in Ajmal’s next over without adding any further runs to provide the game one of its twists. Rohit Sharma and Dhoni departed in quick succession later leaving India needing 58 off 44.

Suresh Raina (34 off 27) and Harbhajan Singh (15* off 11) eventually saw India through, the latter hitting Mohammad Amir for six on the penultimate ball of the game, and giving it back to Shoaib Akhtar with whom he was involved in the second altercation of the eve.

Watch Gautam Gamhir and Kamran Akmal indulging in a heated exchange during the Asia Cup 2010

"Things heated up a bit with Gautam Gambhir during the 2010 Asia Cup but it was all due to misunderstandings. He is a very good friend. We have played a lot of 'A' cricket together,” Akmal said in a video shared by the Legends Cricket League (LCL) earlier this year.

Gambhir’s recollection was a more detailed one.

“I had tried to play and missed it fully,” Gambhir told Vikram Sathaye in a chat show in 2016. “He appealed in such a way that he thought that the ball hit the bat. Then I told him that there is no point in appealing because nothing like that happened, we just got into a heated argument and then it just got from bad to worse.

“It happened in the heat of the moment. When India and Pakistan play each other then obviously it is a tense game.

“Good or a bad thing you can say but whatever arguments happened between us was during the drinks break. Instead of showing advertisements during the break, Neo channel opted to show our heated arguments.”

India and Pakistan will face of in the second game of the Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai on Saturday, August 28.