Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar shared a fierce rivalry on the field during their playing time. The star Indian opener used to teach tough lessons to former Pakistan pacers on the field. Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar also give a tough fight to the Indian legend and dismissed him overall 8 times in his career. Recently, Rawalpindi express shared an instance from IPL 2008 when he made the mistake of taking Sachin’s wicket.
Back in 2008, Pakistan cricketers were allowed to feature in the cash-rich Indian Premier League. The teams had some of the biggest names of Pakistan cricket of that time. Many players had a big fanbase across the country. But, the rivalry between Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar was something special and every fan wanted to see them facing each other in IPL.
Taking Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket was a mistake
In 2008, when MI took the field against KKR, everyone got the opportunity to witness their library. Interestingly, Rawalpindi Express took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar in the very first over of the match. During the interaction, Shoaib Akhtar revealed that he made a big mistake of taking Sachin’s wicket in Mumbai. As per him, Sourav Ganguly changed his fielding position and asked why he took Sachin’s wicket in the match that too in his home city.
“The stadium and entire Mumbai was packed. Ahead of the match, we were having friendly chat and both Sachin and I greeted each other,” he added. Akhtar further called dismissing Tendulkar that day ‘a huge mistake’ as he had to face the backlash from the fans.
“It was a beautiful ground and a fantastic atmosphere. The stadium was fully packed. But I dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the first over itself and that was a huge mistake. Then I got a lot of abuses when I was at fine leg,” recalled Akhtar. “Sourav Ganguly told me, ‘Come to mid-wicket, these people will kill you. Who told you to dismiss Sachin? That too in Mumbai?’” the 46-year-old further said.
Currently, players from across the globe are allowed to be part of the Indian Premier League. But, due to political tension between India and Pakistan, the latter country players are banned to feature in one of the biggest T20 League in the world.
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