Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game of cricket. If cricket is a religion then Sachin Tendulkar is the God of cricket, his fans believe. Picking Sachin’s wicket used to be a dream of many and Pakistan’s legendary bowlers Shoaib Akhtar was able to take his wicket off the first ball.
Well, nearly 14 years ago, during an India vs Pakistan Test match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar and India batting legend Sachin Tendulkar were at the center of attention. Playing his first Test match in India, Aktar dismissed Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar off successive balls on Day 2 of the Test match.
Akhtar said that the in-swinging yorker he bowled to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar was his ‘claim to fame.’ Recently, in an interaction, Akhtar recalled this incident and admitted that Sachin’s wicket was his claim to fame. He made a stunning revelation, claiming that when he met Sachin before the game he told him that he will have no chance against him. He said:
“My claim to fame came when I bowled Sachin Tendulkar off the first ball. I went up to many Indian cricketers and said ‘I want to see the God of cricket.’ They said ‘don’t you know him?’ I said ‘No, I want to see him because I want to bowl him out off the first ball.’ So, Sachin, the nicest guy on the planet, the greatest batsman… I went up to him, looked at him, checked him out and said ‘Brother, you have no chance against me’. So, I bowled him first ball,”
He added: “First time in the history of cricket, 70-80 thousand people were evacuated. The Test match was delayed by two hours because of me. The match was being played in front of close to 100 thousand and now suddenly there was nobody,”
The video of the same was shared by Michael Vaughan via his official Twitter handle. Watch the video:
Brilliant story from @shoaib100mph about bowling @sachin_rt first ball … !! #Paksitan #India @TelegraphSport pic.twitter.com/EJpg8Tplez
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 7, 2022
The video of Shoaib Akhtar recalling this incident has been making rounds on the internet. While many have praised him for his moment of fame, there were many who trolled Shoaib Akhtar by reminding him of Sachin’s greatness. Among many, ‘North Stand Gang’ of Wankhede Stadium, a group of crazy fans, via their official Twitter handle took a hilarious dig at Akhtar.
‘North Stand Gang’ of Wankhede Stadium trolled Akhtar for his accent by writing: “Most batsmen would prefer getting out over having to face this accent.”
Check out the reply:
Most batsmen would prefer getting out over having to face this accent. https://t.co/vIg6DiDQLF
— North Stand Gang – Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) December 8, 2022
