After Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi sends his best wishes to hospitalised Sachin Tendulkar
After former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram sent his warm wishes for Tendulkar, all-rounder Shahid Afridi took to Twitter to express his well wishes to the leading run-scorer in international cricket.
The cricket fraternity has come together to offer its best wishes to Sachin Tendulkar after the former India batsman contracted Covid-19 and was hospitalised, as announced on Friday, 'as a matter of abundant precaution'. After former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram sent his warm wishes for Tendulkar, all-rounder Shahid Afridi took to Twitter to express his well wishes to the leading run-scorer in international cricket.
Afridi, who was one of Tendulkar's counterparts during India and Pakistan's cricketing rivalry, tweeted a heartfelt message: "Wishing you a speedy recovery Legend. No doubt that you will make a strong recovery. May your hospital stay be short and your recovery even shorter."
Tendulkar, who recently took part in the Road Safety World Series, revealed earlier this week that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was in self-isolation. However, the former India captain informed on Friday that he was hospitalised as part of intense precaution, and ever since, there has been a flood of wishes flowing in from current and former cricketers, wishing for the speedy recovery of Tendulkar.
Legend has it that Afridi, who entered the record books by scoring an ODI century off just 37 balls in 1996, incidentally used Tendulkar's bat with which he plundered 104 off 40 balls against Sri Lanka. Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood had revealed that Tendulkar had gifted one of his bats to Waqar Younis, which was borrowed by Afridi during the ODI against Sri Lanka.
"We got the game against Sri Lanka and they said he [Afridi] is batting at number three. I think Waqar [Younis] got a bat from Sachin [Tendulkar], he used the great Sachin’s bat and managed to get a hundred and after that, he became a batsman. Mainly he was a bowler who can hit the ball, but in the end, he had a wonderful career," Mahmood had said on 'The Greatest Rivalry' podcast.
Last year, Afridi triggered controversy when he said that Tendulkar was afraid of facing Shoaib Akhtar, claiming that he had witness it first hand while fielding at square leg. "Sachin obviously won’t say it himself that ‘I’m scared’. There were some spells from Shoaib Akhtar in which not only Sachin but some of the world’s best also got shaken up," Afridi had told Pakistan sports presenter Zainab Abbas.
"I’m not saying that Shoaib has scared Tendulkar always but there have been some spells from Shoaib that have pushed some of the world’s best including Tendulkar on to the backfoot."
