India and Pakistan Cricket teams have always been involved in fierce rivalry on the field of play. Off the field there has always been friendships and camaraderie between the two teams players. When it comes to Indian cricket there has been no bigger name than that of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The master blaster who turned 50 few months ago still commands a lot of respect and has always been one of the most sought after names.
The story as it happened –
Former Pakistani pace bowler, Shoaib Akhtar has enjoyed a storied rivalry with the Indian team. In fact the former worlds fastest bowler made his name in international cricket while playing India at Kolkata. His back to back wickets to dismiss Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar put him on the road to fame.
Shoaib Akhtar’s statement on Sachin Tendulkar –
In the late 1990’s and early to late 2000’s if there was one battle during an India vs Pakistan game, then it was Sachin Tendulkar vs Shoaib Akhtar. The man who is called the Rawalpindi express came out and praised the greatest batter of all time in Sachin Tendulkar.
There is a video doing the rounds where Akhtar could be heard saying “I feel sorry for Sachin Tendulkar as he faced plant earth’s most dangerous bowling attack. He came up against Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in the early 1990’s. in the late 1990’s, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and I were in front of him. He slammed every bowler including me, there cant be any bigger batter than him”
Well said @shoaib100mph
— Nitin jain(Sachinsuperfan) (@NitinSachinist) June 2, 2023
Totally agree with the statement 👏🏻#sachintendulkar #godofcricket pic.twitter.com/bES2bfKlDo
Pakistan likely to lose the hosting rights for Asia Cup 2023 –
Speaking of Pakistan cricket, there is a very good chance they could lose the hosting rights for the Asia Cup 2023 edition. According to sources, the Asian Cricket Council could name Sri Lanka as the hosts of the tournament.
The reason for this being, India is reluctant to tour Pakistan and have shown no interest in the Hybrid model proposed by the PCB. There is set to be a collision course as the PCB could decide to boycott the tournament and in fact even pull out of the ODI world cup later this year to be held in India.