Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag
Former Indian cricketer and a batting legend, Virender Sehwag had once mentioned to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan that ex-Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar had once tried to sledge him during a Test match between India and Pakistan when the batsman was close to 200 and was with Sachin Tendulkar in the middle.
“I was batting around 200. Shoaib was probably tired after bowling for so long. He came around the wicket and started to bowl plenty of bouncers and taunted me to hit a hook shot. Realising he will continue to do the same thing, I asked him to bowl a bouncer at Sachin Tendulkar, who was at non-striker’s end.
“In the next over when he bowled a bouncer to Sachin, he hooked it for a six,” Sehwag had said.
However, in an interview on Helo App, Akhtar opned up on the allegations for the first time denying the claims. He further added that he had later confronted Sehwag regarding the same during their World Cup match back in 2011 with Gautam Gambhir being part of the conversation.
“Do you think I would let someone go if he says anything like that to me? We were sitting in Bangladesh during the 2011 World Cup. Gautam Gambhir was also there, go and ask him too. I held Sehwag and asked him, ‘did you say something like this on TV?’ He said no, he backtracked from his remarks. Gautam Gambhir was sitting alongside him. I told Sehwag ‘If I come to know that you have said something like this then I won’t spare you. You know I can be bitter at times’,” Akhtar was quoted by Hindustan Times.
Well, it seems there is a bit of a contradiction with Sehwag's statement.
The only time Sehwag was close to 200 with both Akhtar and Sachin part of the match was in 2004 in Multan during his famous triple ton. But none of Sachin's stroke had gone over the ropes.
