Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has claimed that Shoaib Akhtar got Sachin Tendulkar scared on a few occasions during his caree...
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has claimed that Shoaib Akhtar got Sachin Tendulkar scared on a few occasions during his career and the Indian great wasn’t the only batsman to find it difficult to face the Pakistan pacer.
Akhtar truly announced himself on the international stage in 1999 when he got the wickets of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar on back-to-back deliveries with yorkers at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Tendulkar and the Indian cricket team after struggling against Akhtar initially later played him much better, but Afridi has revealed that he could sense Tendulkar was scared to face Akhtar at times.
“Sachin obviously won’t say it himself that ‘I’m scared’. There were some spells from Shoaib Akhtar in which not only Sachin but some of the world”s best also got shaken up,” Afridi told sports presenter Zainab Abbas on YouTube chat show.
“When you are fielding at mid-off or covers, you can see it. You can sense the body language of a player. You can easily understand that a batsman is under pressure, he is not at his usual best,” he added.
“I’m not saying that Shoaib has scared Tendulkar always but there have been some spells from Shoaib that have pushed some of the world’s best onto the back foot,” he continued.
However, numbers suggest that Tendulkar had the...
