'This is God?' - Shoaib Akhtar recalls facing Sachin Tendulkar for the first time
'This is God?' - Shoaib Akhtar recalls facing Sachin Tendulkar for the first time
The battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar enthralled cricket fans during their playing days. The face-off between two top cricketers at the peak of their powers was nothing short of feast for cricket lovers. While many a times Tendulkar came out on top, there were moments when Akhtar dominated with his extreme pace.
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar recalled bowling to Sachin Tendulkar for the first time as he explained the build-up to the match in 1999 where India and Pakistan locked horns at the Eden Gardens.
Akhtar recalled that there was certain hype surrounding Tendulkar as everyone portrayed him as ‘God’ while adding that motivated him to get him dismissed in the first delivery, which he did.
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“I heard Sachin was the God. I said this is a God?. 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 on Saturday.
Akhtar, who has been among the headlines for his controversial statements, had taken a jibe at the BCCI following the postponement of T20 World Cup while dragging ‘Monkeygate’ controversy to support his point.
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“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?” Akhtar said.
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Akhtar had bowled Tendulkar on the very first ball in 1999 Kolkata test where the duo was locking horns for the first time. Akhtar went on to dismiss VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad to mark his presence against India and finished with good figures of 4/71 in the first innings before picking another four in the second. Pakistan ultimately won the Test by 46 runs.