Shoaib Akhtar Was The Quickest Bowler I Faced – Mahendra Singh Dhoni

With the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 underway in England, there is bound to be a lot of excitement surrounding the campaign of all eight teams featuring in the grand event.

A day after their marauding win over Pakistan at Birmingham, the Indian team attended a gala dinner, hosted by skipper Virat Kohli’s foundation. The affair was meant as a fundraiser event and it included the entire Indian squad along with the coaching staff.

The grand dinner was hosted by famous commentator and host Alan Wilkins. Wilkins throughout the show was quizzing the Indian team members about their views on several aspects related to the game. The veteran then turned his attention towards former skipper and heartthrob of millions, MS Dhoni.

Wilkins went on to ask Dhoni a couple of things, the first being the infamous Duckworth-Lewis method, used in the rain-affected game. Dhoni being the witty person he is, came up with an interesting response, as he mentioned that even the ICC wasn’t fully aware of the rule.

“I don’t think even ICC understands the D/L method and how it works,” said MS Dhoni about the rule.

When quizzed about who was the quickest bowler Dhoni faced in his career, the wicketkeeper-batsman quickly mentioned former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar’s name. It must be noted that Dhoni and Akhtar were involved in a fierce battle during the former’s first ever test series away from home in Faisalabad in early 2006. In that knock of 148 which saved the test for India, Dhoni was particularly harsh towards Akhtar.

“If I have to name one quick bowler who was tough to play against in my career, simple and easy answer would be Shoaib Akhtar,” said MS Dhoni, in his response to Alan Wilkins.

India next faces Sri Lanka in their Group B match at the Oval on Thursday.