A fierce rivalry between former India batter Gautam Gambhir and former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is all set to reignite in US Masters T10 League 2023. This rivalry will inadvertently extend NHL’s Hudson River Rivalry to cricket.
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While Gambhir will lead New Jersey Legends, Afridi is the captain of New York Warriors. Both the teams will face each other in the league stage on August 10. Considering the quality of players on both sides, they could meet each other in the playoff as well. Readers must note that Gambhir and Afridi had last locked horns against each other in Legends League Cricket earlier this year.
Gambhir, who has often called former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh as the best white-ball player in Indian cricket history, will be leading him at Legends. While cricket is slowly spreading its wings in the USA, NHL (National ) is already a popular sport. Needless to say that the Hudson River Rivalry will only add more spice to the competition due to the presence of Gambhir and Afridi.
Gautam Gambhir And Shahid Afridi To Bring NHL’s Hudson River Rivalry To Cricket With US Masters T10 League
The Hudson River rivalry is an ice hockey rivalry between New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. These are two of the three clubs that play in the New York City metropolitan area. However, the Devils-Rangers rivalry, another name used in the NHL, wouldn’t be applicable here due to the different team names in US T10 League.
The Hudson River flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between New York City and Jersey City. That’s why, the rivalry between two sides is called Hudson River rivalry. Even fans have agreed that the rivalry has only increased over the years.
Teams of same cities or close by areas forming riveting sports rivalries isn’t novel by any means. In football, Manchester City and Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, etc. are some of the rival teams from the same city.
Shahid Afridi Terms Rivalry With Gautam Gambhir As “Normal“
Gambhir and Afridi have had some heated on-field encounters throughout their respective careers. The fact is that both of them are quite vocal about their opinions. Considering their personalities, it’s quite normal for their clashes to have such a big hype.
Famously known as ‘Lala’, Afridi termed his rivalry with Gambhir as “normal” earlier this year. Afridi laid emphasis on how social media fan wars have just hyped the rivalry unnecessarily. The star all-rounder even had a lot of praise for the Indian batter.
“These things go on cricket. It’s normal. And I feel, it has been more hyped up in social media. Woh different kisam ka character hain, aam players se thoda alag hain [He has a different character from that of normal players],” Afridi had said on a YouTube show titled ‘Had Kar Di’.
When Gautam Gambhir Had Advised News Anchor To Lay Less Emphasis On Shahid Afridi
Part of a guest panel also involving former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan before India-Pakistan ICC T20 World Cup 2022 match, Gambhir spoke against giving a lot of significance on Afridi on a special show titled Zee Cricket Conclave. Gambhir, who claimed to not knowing Afridi well personally, insisted that their rivalry is overrated.
“Aap Shahid Afridi ke baare mein isliye baat kar rahe hai kyunki aapko Pakistan ke naam pe TRP chahiye [You are talking about Shahid Afridi because you get TRP from Pakistan’s name]. Hum shayad Afridi ko itni zyada importance isliye dete hai kyunki bas woh zyada bikti hai [Afridi’s news is discussed a lot primarily because of his selling ability].”
Much like Afridi, Gambhir also put the blame on social media citing how channels generate a lot of views by including the India-Pakistan angle. Gambhir also advised the Indian media to stop broadcasting Afridi’s speeches from Pakistan.
