'He only talked about Sachin, Sehwag. I was like, 'when will he talk about me?': Ex-India star on 'hurting Akhtar's ego'
The former India star revealed how he ‘hurt’ Shoaib Akhtar's ego during their face-offs, further adding that he wanted to ‘make a statement’.
India will take on Pakistan in a blockbuster clash in men's Asia Cup on Sunday night. This is will be first meeting between both sides since the T20 World Cup clash last year, where Babar Azam's side had registered a dominant 10-wicket victory in Dubai. Incidentally, the game on August 28 also takes place at the same venue. India, however, have undergone major changes since the defeat last year including a switch in captaincy from Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma, and the return of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik to the national setup among several other additions to the side.
The matches between India and Pakistan precede significant fanfare over the past few years due to lack of bilateral cricket between both sides, owing to political tensions. Many former cricketers also remember their best memories from the clashes between both sides and on Sunday, India's former batter Mohammad Kaif recalled his antic against Pakistan great Shoaib Akhtar; in 2004, Kaif had walked down the pitch against the pacer who holds the record for the fastest delivery in international cricket.
In fact, Kaif had repeated the tactic earlier this year in Legends League Cricket as well, when he walked down against Akhtar on multiple occasions before the Pakistan fast bowler eventually dismissed him. Akhtar had hilariously said after the game that he felt like “punching” Kaif for repeatedly walking down the pitch against him.
In an interaction with Zee News that also included Akhtar, Kaif finally revealed the reason behind his antic.
“At that time, Akhtar's entire focus used to be on Sachin, Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid, Yuvraj. I was like, 'when will he focus on me?' So I decided to walk against him so that it hurts him in his heart. I thought he should feel, 'How dare Mohammed Kaif walk against him?',” Kaif recalled.
“I'm not lying. I needed to make a statement. Everytime in any interview, he would talk about Sachin and Sehwag and I used to feel, 'when will he talk about me?'. So I thought, if I walk, it will remain in his heart and it will hurt his ego. Shoaib bhai will not forget this ever,” he added further, with both him and Akhtar having a chuckle as they recalled the moment.
India are placed in Group A of the Asia Cup 2022 that also includes Hong Kong, whom the side faces on August 31. The top-2 teams will qualify for the Super Four. Earlier on Saturday, Afghanistan produced a stunning performance to defeat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets.
