The Indian cricket workforce will lock horns in opposition to Pakistan within the upcoming Asia Cup on August 28. Each the groups might be going through one another for the primary time after the T20 World Cup final 12 months the place the Virat Kohli-led India succumbed to a bitter defeat in opposition to their arch-rivals.
Matches between the 2 sides have at all times been intense and nail-biting and several other situations have transpired on the sector when gamers engaged in verbal battles as nicely. Recalling one such incident in the course of the 2003 World Cup, former India opener Virender Sehwag revealed how grasp blaster Sachin Tendulkar was targetted by the opposition workforce.
Tendulkar had performed a improbable knock of 98 off simply 75 deliveries smashing Pakistan bowlers throughout the park however he needed to name Sehwag to run on his behalf as a consequence of cramps.
Nonetheless, with the match delicately poised, Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi stored abusing Tendulkar to distract him.
“I came to run for him during the game because he was having cramps, and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi was abusing him a lot, kept saying something or the other. But he remained focused. He knew it was important for him to stay at the crease. He usually doesn’t take a runner, but still he knew that if I come, I will run like he does. There won’t be any misunderstanding,” Sehwag mentioned in a video posted by Star Sports.
“No matter what series it is (ICC tournament or bilateral), the match between India and Pakistan is always intense. And we will always see fights or incidents taking place between players of both countries. And I remember there was a statement from Shoaib Akhtar that he will absolutely destroy the top order. I didn’t read the statement, and neither did Sachin, but Sachin did respond strongly to it in the first over of our innings. He hit 18 runs in that over,” he added.
Tendulkar, sadly, fell simply two runs wanting what would have been a memorable hundred. Later, Rahul Dravid (44*) and Yuvraj Singh (50*) added 99* runs for the fifth wicket to take India house within the forty sixth over and win the match by 6 wickets.
