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Cricket Players'You almost broke my leg in my early 20s': AB de Villiers, Shoaib Akhtar engage in heartwarming Twitter conversation
AB de Villiers and Shoaib Akhtar engaged in a heartwarming conversation on Twitter.
During his prime in his playing career, Shoaib Akhtar was arguably the fastest international bowler. He holds the record for the fastest delivery recorded in international cricket (at 161 kph) during an ODI against New Zealand in 2002. Earlier on Wednesday, Cricket Australia also acknowledged the 20th anniversary of Shoaib Akhtar breaching the 100 mph mark (160 kph) in international cricket, as they posted a video of a fierce bouncer to former Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson.
Watson, on his official Twitter account, reacted to the tweet; “What a way to spend my 21st birthday!! @shoaib100mph was so good and so bloody fast!!” the former Australian cricketer had written.
AB de Villiers, the former South African cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in modern era, also acknowledged that he “still gets nightmares” from facing Akhtar during his career.
On Thursday, the Pakistan speedster finally reacted to de Villiers' tweet.
“Come on AB, you've given sleepless nights to many bowlers yourself. Always a pleasure interacting with you,” Akhtar wrote on his official Twitter profile.
In turn, de Villiers recalled a game where Akhtar “almost broke” his leg. “Haha. Good old days! U almost broke my leg at Supersport Park in my early twenties after I decided to pull u for 6. The minute it hit my bat I knew it was a big mistake,” wrote the South African.
Shoaib Akhtar called time on his 14-year-long international career shortly after the 2011 World Cup, ending with 178 wickets in Tests, 247 in ODIs, and 19 in T20Is.
AB de Villiers, meanwhile, had led the South African time during his career and represented the Proteas in 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is. He boasts of a 50+ average in both, Tests and ODIs and was fondly nicknamed "Mr 360" due to his versatile stroke-playing skills.
