This One Guy Among Indian Batters Kept Hitting Me For Sixes - Shoaib Akhtar Reveals His Most 'Fearsome Rival'
Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar stated that Sachin Tendulkar had troubles facing him and his pace during the first edition of the IPL but L. Balaji used to take him to the cleaners.
In a casual chat with Harbhajan Singh, Akthar was testing their knowledge about the inaugural edition when the question about the most fearsome player popped up.
“Sachin was not comfortable. The entire Indian team couldn’t play me but this one guy, Balaji kept hitting me for sixes batting down the order,” Akhtar told during the conversation on Sportskeeda live.
“In the auction, Babar would go for 15-20 crore” – Shoaib Akhtar
Akhtar also felt that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam would go for a price between INR 15-20 crores. The most expensive contract in the history of the league is jointly held by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who have touched INR 17 crores.
“In the auction, Babar would go for 15-20 crore. It would be great to see Babar Azam and Virat Kohli playing together in the IPL. How nice it would be if they open the innings in the IPL one day,” he added.
Akhtar spoke about the KKR squad in IPL 2008 where he played alongside Sourav Ganguly. Although Akhtar was deemed unfit by the then head coach, Ganguly came to his defence.
“I was serving a ban when I joined the KKR camp and hadn’t played matches. John Buchanan told Sourav Ganguly that he doesn’t think I am fit enough. To which Ganguly replied that he has always been unfit. Don’t worry about him. It will be okay even if he’s half unfit,” Akhtar further mentioned.
