The rivalry between India and Pakistan in cricket constitutes some mini-duels between the players of both countries. Broadly, it has been the contest between Pakistani pacers against the flamboyant Indian batsmen, over the decades.
During the late 90s and the 2000s, it was the encounter between ‘Rawalpindi Express’ Shoaib Akhtar and ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar.
The face-off between the two ensured an edge of the seat action with both trying to dominate each other.
Akhtar recently reminisced his first outing against Sachin during Pakistan’s 1999 tour of India. In the Kolkata Test match, Akhtar bamboozled both Sachin and Rahul Dravid on consecutive deliveries to silence the crowd at Eden Gardens.
“I heard Sachin was the god. I said this is a God? Iss ki khairiyat nahi. He didn’t recognize me, and I didn’t recognize him. He was in his own attitude and I was in my attitude. But I wanted to get him out on the first ball and that happened,” Akhtar told ARY News.
Whenever fanatics remember the Akhtar-Sachin duels, it is hard not to mention the uppercut over ‘Third Man’ at Centurion, back in the 2003 ODI World Cup. Akhtar remained adamant about the fact that the iconic moment has eclipsed their other contests.
Then, the former speedster pointed out towards favouritism received by India at the global level and questioned Cricket Australia’s (CA) ethics.
“Sometimes they get easy wickets in Melbourne, at times someone calls another person a monkey but gets saved, the talk goes to boycotting the series. I am asking the Australians, where are their ethics?” the YouTube broadcaster said.
Later, Akhtar complained about the scrap of T20 World Cup and Asia Cup this year and the IPL 2020 being slotted in the window instead.
“Asia Cup could have definitely happened, it would have been a great chance for India and Pakistan to play against each other. There are many reasons behind this. I don’t want to get into that. The T20 World Cup could have also happened, but I had already said earlier that they wouldn’t let it happen. IPL should not be damaged, let the World Cup go to hell,” Akhtar concluded.
