Regarded as one of the finest batters of all-time, Sachin Tendulkar had some fierce battles with pacers from across the globe during his playing career. However, his duels with former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar are some of the most-talked about battles till date. Sachin used to dominate Akhtar on most occasions, but the latter used to retaliate by bowling vicious bouncers. During a recent chat, Akhtar revealed that he intentionally wanted to hurt Tendulkar during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2006.
“First, let me reveal this. I intentionally wanted to hit Sachin in that match (Karachi Test, 2006). I was determined that I had to injure Sachin in that Test at any cost,” Akhtar said during an interaction on Sportskeeda.
“Inzamam kept saying that bowl in front of the wickets, but I wanted to hit Sachin. So, I hit him on his helmet and I thought he’s gone, he’ll die. But when I watched the video, I saw Sachin had managed to save his head,” he added.
Akhtar further revealed that while he continued to target Sachin, pacer Mohammad Asif troubled Indian pacers with his clinical bowling.
“I again tried to injure him. On other side, Indian batting was facing the music in the shape of Asif. I had rarely seen anyone bowl as well as Asif had bowled on that particular day,” he added.
While Irfan Pathan took a hat-trick in the first innings, India eventually lost the first Test in Karachi, and also went on to concede the series.
While Asif had starred with his seven-wicket haul in the match, it was Kamran Akmal who had won the Man of the Match award for his 113-run knock in the first innings. (NDTV)
