Shahid Afridi stands his ground after getting flak for saying Imran Khan made 'mistakes'.

Political discourse in Pakistan has become very black or white - it is very much a 'you are either with us or against us' mentality, no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on. Shahid Afridi may be considered one of the greats of Pakistani cricket but that didn't save him from a barrage of hate for voicing his opinion on politics, specifically on former prime minister Imran Khan's performance when in government.

What happened

Afridi appeared on a special edition of SAMAA TV show Game Set Match on Eid. He and his daughters spoke about how they celebrate Eid, their family and, later, Afridi spoke about the stories behind some pictures of himself, one of which was a picture of him with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and another was of him at a rally with Imran.

He praised Imran's stance on Kashmir and said he went went to a rally in Kashmir and gave a speech there at Imran's behest. The hosts noted that he went to that rally but also congratulated the new premier for taking office. Afridi was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for a congratulatory message he posted for the premier.

"I've liked Shehbaz Sharif since the beginning. Show me an administrator like him in Pakistan, you can't because there is none," countered the cricketer.

"I didn't congratulate an Israeli prime minister, I congratulated a Pakistani prime minister. No matter who it was, I'd congratulate them," he argued. "In my congratulations to Shehbaz Sharif, there was a protest as well, a personal protest between me and Imran Bhai," he said. In his tweet, he wrote, "Congratulations to Shehbaz Sharif on being elected the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan and I hope that he will be able to use his management skills to bring Pakistan out of the current economic and political crisis."

Afridi said Imran has been a role model for him since 1989 or 1990. "I wanted to become like him," he said. "When he entered politics, I supported him. When he set up Shaukat Khanum, I supported him. Until he was in government, I supported him. But, I, my family my children, the whole of Pakistan had a lot of hopes for him," he said.

The cricketer revealed that the 2013 election was the first time he had ever voted in his life. "A lot of educated people were inspired by Imran Bhai to go vote," he said.

"But if Imran Bhai says the [Durood Sharif], so do we every day in our prayers. But the fact of the matter is, God gives and God takes away. God gave Imran Khan and then He took it...

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