'While I appreciate all the love, it’s mixed with pain...': Wahab recalls his incredible 2015 World Cup duel with Watson

While Wahab dished out a sensational performance with the ball, Watson went on to score an unbeaten 64 to steer his team to victory. Australia went on to claim the World Cup crown a few days later.

The quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup saw Shane Watson facing thunderbolts from Wahab Riaz, who was fired up while being at the receiving end of some sledging from the Australian. It all started with Watson poking fun at Wahab's batting ability while he was up against a lethal Mitchell Starc. Watson himself said that he undermined Wahab, who rattled him with sheer pace and ended up registering figures of 2/54 from nine overs, albeit in a losing cause.

Wahab Riaz and Shane Watson (Twitter)

Watson came in to bat at No. 5 position after Wahab removed Australia captain Michael Clarke off a bouncer. His next four overs featured a string of bouncers that were super accurate and quick. Wahab even went near Watson during the follow-through and clapped while staring at the Australian, which arguably was the highlight of the duel between the two players.

While Wahab dished out a sensational performance with the ball, Watson went on to score an unbeaten 64 to steer Australia to victory. Australia won that match by 6 wickets and went on to claim the World Cup crown a few days later. The Pakistan paceman has recalled his battle in the quarterfinals, saying the love for his spell versus Australia is "mixed with pain" of not taking his side past the finish line.

"While I appreciate all the love I get for this spell against Australia, it’s mixed with pain that my spell did not result in Pakistan winning the match. Sigh," said Wahab on the video of his face-off against Watson.

Watson earlier had also recalled the showdown, labelling it as one of the most special moments in his career. Watson was fined 15 per cent of his match fees by the match referee while Wahab had been fined 50 per cent of his match fees.

“Wahab Riaz went absolutely crazy, bouncing the living daylights out of me, he bowled super accurate and he kept bouncing me,” Watson had said about the match while answering questions from fans on his Instagram.

“It was very silly and naive of me that I didn’t realise that Wahab Riaz could bowl that fast. I said something to him – because he kept playing and missing Mitchell Starc – so I ran past him and said, ‘Have you got a hole in your bat? Because you just keep missing the ball.’ And again, I didn’t realise he could bowl that fast so once I got out there, I got absolutely peppered."

“I look back at that moment, that was a very special ‘moment to be part of, even though it was super uncomfortable. He got on top of me, I got dropped at fine leg, but yeah, worked out really well in the end," he had added.