New Delhi, Sep 23: Pakistan cricket's enfant terrible Shoaib Akhtar has stirred yet another controversy, this time questioning the class and temperament of India's batting stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
In his just-published autobiography “Controversially Yours”, the temparamental Pakistan speedster has accused Tendulkar of being scared to face his scorching pace on a slow Faisalabad track.
He also claimed that Tendulkar and Dravid were not match-winners nor did they know the art of finishing games.
“....Vivian Richards, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and the likes of them are great batsmen who dominated with the bat and were truly match-winners. Initially, when I bowled against Sachin, I found these qualities missing. He might have had more runs and records, he lacked the ability to finish the game,” he said in the book.
Akhtar, who announced his retirement during the World Cup this year, also cited an example where he felt that Sachin was mighty scared to face him.
“We would have faced a humbling defeat in the series but for the fact that we reined in Sachin Tendulkar.
“What went in our favour was that Sachin was suffering from tennis elbow! This severely handicapped the great batsman. We managed to psychologically browbeat him. “We bounced the ball at him and were able to unnerve him.
I returned to the dressing room that first day with the knowledge that Sachin was not comfortable facing fast and rising ball. He was distinctly uncomfortable against me. That was enough to build on”, he said. PTI
