India and Pakistan have played some of the most intense games in the history of the sport. Former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar recently recalled his fond memories from India’s historic tour of Pakistan in 2004.
It was a historic tour in every sense as India trumped the hosts 2-1 in the three-match Test before beating 3-2 in the five-match One Day Internationals. Express pacer Shoaib Akhtar also revealed the plans which Pakistan had in mind to defeat the Indian team in the Test series in 2004.
Speaking on Sportskeeda, the veteran pacer said, ” The plan was to beat the Indian team psychologically in the Test series in 2004. We wanted to create pacy wickets for Indian batsmen and scare them with sheer pace “
Mohammad Kaif, who was also part of that tour, talked about his experience from the India-Pakistan match in ODI World Cup 2003. The former Indian cricketer said, “Atmosphere was very intense during that match. There were Indian flags being waved all around the stadium which was a great feeling. My role with bat in that match was to support Sachin who was playing aggressive”
Meanwhile, Virender Sehwag scored 438 runs in this series and grabbed the player of the series award while Anil Kumble was the top wicket-taker for India in that series.
We got a lot of love and respect in Pakistan during our tour – Mohammed Kaif on the reception Indian team
Mohammad Kaif also described the love and respect which Indian players got on their Pakistan tour in 2004. The former Delhi Capitals support staff said, “We got a lot of love and respect in Pakistan during our tour. Not only me, Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly everyone will say the same about that tour”
“We had to take permission to go out for shopping. But when I went shopping, no one was ready to take money. Everyone used to say – you have come from India to play cricket, you are our guests,” he added.
Written by Harsh Gupta
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