Wanted Sachin to slam the ton against us in 2003 World Cup: Shoaib Akhtar
Akhtar had revealed he would have allowed Tendulkar to hit him for more sixes if he knew the shot over third-man would bring so much joy to Indian fans.
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has revealed his disappointment of getting Sachin Tendulkar out during the 2003 World Cup match against India. Tendulkar’s 98 is considered one of the best ODI knocks played by the former batsman, his memorable six off Shoaib forever etched in the minds of Indian fans.
But as he approached the three-figure mark, Akhtar bowled a bouncer which Tendulkar – battling cramps and batting with a runner – top-edged trying to fend it. 17 years after that match at Centurion, the former quick, despite going for 74 runs in his 10 overs, expressed disappointment at Tendulkar missing his century.
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“I was very sad because Sachin got out for 98. It was a special inning; he should have touched the century mark. I wanted him to slam the ton. For that bouncer, I may have loved to see him hit a six, as he did it before,” Akhtar said during a Helo Live session.
Weighing in on the Tendulkar-Kohli comparisons, Akhtar said: “Tendulkar batted in the toughest era of cricket. If he had to get the chance now, he may hit more than 1.30 lakh runs. So it’s not good to make a comparison between Sachin and Kohli.”
Last month, Akhtar had revealed he would have allowed Tendulkar to hit him for more sixes if he knew the shot over third-man would bring so much joy to Indian fans. That said, Akhtar reminded that irrespective of how brilliant the shot was, Indian public tends to forget his success rate against the batting great.
“I had a good time bowling to Sachin Tendulkar. He is one of the greatest batsmen of all-time. But I dismissed him 12-13 times as well,” he had said.
The claims, however, were untrue as Akhtar has dismissed Tendulkar a total of eight times in international cricket – five times in ODIs and three times in Tests. In fact, it was Akhtar who dealt Tendulkar his first golden duck of his career and even dismissed him once during the inaugural edition of the IPL playing for Kolkata Knight Riders.