'Shahid Afridi was abusing Sachin Tendulkar a lot' - Sehwag recalls India-Pakistan 2003 World Cup clash

India and Pakistan will lock horns in the forthcoming Asia Cup 2022 edition, in the UAE, on August 28. Over the years, both the Asian giants play each other only during ICC or multi-nation tournaments but the buzz and hype around every Indo-Pak clash remains extremely high.

Before Rohit Sharma's Team India and Babar Azam-led Pakistan lock horns in the Asia Cup, where they can meet each other thrice (including the final), former Indian opener Virender Sehwag recalled the two teams' 2003 ODI World Cup clash, held in Centurion.

Back then, the Sourav Ganguly-led Indian team were asked to chase a challenging 274 -- after Saeed Anwar's 101 -- and rode on Sachin Tendulkar's majestic 98, off 75 balls, and crucial knocks from Md Kaif, Rahul Dravid (44 not out) and Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 50. However, Tendulkar had to fall back upon Sehwag to fill in as his runner due to Master Blaster's cramps. Recently, Sehwag revealed what happened when he joined Tendulkar-Rahul Dravid in the middle as the former's runner.

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“We knew it was an important game. But Tendulkar was so experienced, he had played so many games against Pakistan.. he knew that he need to be prepared for it. If I have to consider his World Cup knocks, it was his best. I also came to run for him during the game because he was having cramps, and Pakistan's Shahid Afridi was abusing him a lot, kept saying something or the other. But he remained focused. He knew it was important for him to stay at the crease. He usually doesn't take a runner, but still he knew that if I come, I will run like he does. There won't be any misunderstanding," Sehwag said on a video posted byStar Sports.

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Sehwag went onto add, "No matter what series it is (ICC tournament or bilateral), the match between India and Pakistan is always intense. And we will always see fights or incidents taking place between players of both the countries. And I remember there was a statement from Shoaib Akhtar that he will absolutely destroy the top order. I didn't read the statement, neither did Sachin, but Sachin did respond strongly to it in the first over of our innings. He hit 18 runs in that over."