Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar recalled an interesting incident about Sachin Tendulkar from India’s tour to Pakistan in 2006. The pacer revealed that he wanted to injure the Indian cricketer during the third Test match.
The team reached Karachi for the final test after the first two test matches of the tour ended in a draw. Sachin Tendulkar did not get a lot of opportunities to bat in the first two Test matches. In a conversation with Sportskeeda, Akhtar, who is known for his aggressive bowling, revealed that he wanted to intentionally hit Sachin Tendulkar.
Shoaib Akhtar stated that the Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq wanted him to bowl in front of the wickets, but he wanted to wound Sachin. The pacer expressed:
“I’m revealing this for the first time. I intentionally wanted to hit Sachin in that Test match. I was determined that I had to wound Sachin in that Test at any cost.”
“Inzamam kept telling that bowl in front of the wickets, but I wanted to hit Sachin. So I hit him on his helmet and I felt he was done. But when I watched the video, I saw Sachin had managed to save his head,” he added.
I had rarely seen anyone bowl as good as Asif bowled on that day – Shoaib Akhtar recalls 2006 Karachi Test
The former Pakistan cricketer further expressed that he bowled at Sachin’s body to wound him. On the other end, the Indian team was struggling to face Mohammad Asif, who was bowling brilliantly. Asif took a four-wicket haul in the first innings, followed by three wickets in the second.
“I again tried to injure him (Sachin Tendulkar). But on other side, Indian batting was facing music in the shape of Asif. I had rarely seen anyone bowl as good as the way Asif bowled on that particular day,” said Shoaib Akhtar.
Earlier in the test match, Irfan Pathan picked a hat-trick, dismissing Salman Butt, Younis Khan, and Mohammad Yousuf in the first over. India lost the match by 341 runs, as they were bowled out for 265 in the fourth innings.
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