The rivalry between India and Pakistan is regarded as the most fierce one in the world however, the cultural similarities between the two countries are something that connects the two countries. There have been many instances when we witnessed tempers flowing on the cricket field whenever the arch-rivals faced each other on the cricket field.
Recently, former Pakistani cricketer Waqar Younis shared a heartening tale of friendship, where Inzamam-ul-Haq stood up for the former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin back in the year 1997.
Recalling the incidents from a 1997 Indo-Pak cricket match, Waqar Younis revealed how there were chants of ‘aloo, aloo’ being made towards Inzamam. While Inzamam kept his nerves during the chants, however, he lost his cool when a fan from the crowd abused Azharuddin’s wife. Waqar revealed:
“Yes, there was someone calling him ‘aalu’. But also, what exactly happened [was that] there was someone in the crowd who was not very good to Azharuddin’s wife – I think they were just talking some rubbish – and Inzi being Inzi, he didn’t really like it. And as I was mentioning, the friendship off the field between these two teams’ players was outstanding, it was amazing, they had a lot of respect for each other,”
He added:
“You know we used to play hard on the field, but when it comes to the friendship, we used to really look out for each-others’ back,”
Waqar cited this incident as a great example of friendship between India and Pakistani cricketers. He revealed:
“And what happened [was] because someone was really being rude to Azza’s wife and Inzi just, I don’t know what happened to be very honest, he just decided, he asked, I think Saleem Malik was captain [Ramiz Raja was the Pakistan skipper]. He asked Saleem to move him to that fine-leg third-man region, and that’s where he went. And he just asked for the 12th man to bring the bat, and he just gave it to him, and he just ran up the stairs in the scaffolding and brought it down.”
Later on, Inzamam suffered a two-match ban and was presented to the court. He revealed:
“Inzi had to suffer, Inzi had to apologise and they went to court for that particular incident and Azhar had to come out, which was very nice of Azharuddin, who had to come out and talk to that Indian guy. The guy was Indian I think, and talk to him and sort out that issue out of the court,”
