The second Test match of India’s 2006 tour to Pakistan, held at Faisalabad, is memorable for MS Dhoni, who brought up his maiden Test ton, during his flamboyant knock of 148.
The pitch offered at the Iqbal Stadium turned out to be an absolute belter. As many as six different batsmen, including Dhoni, brought up their ton on the flat deck.
Former Pakistan speedster, Shoaib Akhtar has now opened up about purposely throwing a beamer at Dhoni who was going great guns at 135.
“I remember when India had come to Pakistan, my left fibula was broken, my landing leg. MS Dhoni had scored a century at Faisalabad. What sort of wickets they had prepared, you know,” Akhtar told Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
During the interaction, the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ recalled how he played with a broken fibula, which was his landing feet.
“Every day they used to put big injections on my leg to make it numb and I kept on bowling. They asked me to play that last Test match as after that my leg would not support me. My fibula was almost hanging,” he said.
“I think I had bowled an 8-9 over spell in Faisalabad. It was a quick spell and Dhoni scored a hundred. I purposely bowled a beamer to Dhoni and then apologised to him,” the cricketer turned broadcaster recalled.
In the end, Akhtar suggested that it was the first time he bowled a beamer at a batsman purposefully.
“It was the first time in my life I had bowled a beamer purposely. I shouldn’t have done it. I regretted it a lot. He was playing so well and the wickets were so slow. However fast I was bowling, he kept on hitting. I think I got frustrated,” Akhtar concluded.
With the first two matches of the three-match Test series drawn, Pakistan came out victorious in the third Test match at Karachi. India, on the other hand, clinched the ODI series by 4-1.
