Bromance flourishes between Shaheen Afridi, Shinwari and Haris Rauf

CHRISTCHURCH/KARACHI: Pakistan cricket team fans were treated to some quality banter on Thursday when Shaheen Afridi posted a picture on social media only for his teammates Haris Rauf and Usman Shinwari to make light of it. 

A day ago, Shaheen Afridi had posted a picture in which he struck a model-esque pose, sporting a navy blue shirt and beige trousers. Fast bowlers Usman Shinwari and Haris Rauf heaped praise on the lanky right-arm pacer, triggering a banter between the three.

"Khoobsurat log [Beautiful person]," wrote Rauf, adding a little heart emoji. To which Shinwari — with a winking-face-with-tongue emoji — responded: "Tou be chikna hai tension na le [You're hot too, don't worry]."

In another comment, Shinwari wrote: "Dair ala shaheen saib jar sham [Fantastic, Shaheen sahab, anything for you]."

To which, Shaheen Afridi — using a nickname for Shinwari — replied: "Sheeno saib Manana [Thank you, Sheeno sahab]."

As a few people on Twitter raised eyebrows, others quickly popped in to laud them for sharing a light moment and urged others not to think much about it either. 

In fact, Geo News reporter Faizan Lakhani also defended the young Pakistani cricketers, saying "personal social media accounts are personal space".

"Let them have some fun. At the end of day players are also 'insaan' [humans]," he added.

User @AqibMansoor5 asked rhetorically if everything should be made into an issue. "Let them live," said @javvvzy.

Others were protective of their favourite cricketers, telling dectractors to mind their own business. 

A Game of Thrones reference also came up.

"Stop judging others," said one, while another said they were "humans like us and they should have some space".

All in all, it was a nice way for some to learn that cricketers have lives too and should not be judged for some good-natured humour.