'This Is A God? Iss ki khairiyat nahi': Shoaib Akhtar Reveals His Reaction While Bowling To Sachin Tendulkar For The First Time

When Shoaib Akhtar faced Sachin Tendulkar for the first time in 1999, the latter was already on his path to become one of the all-time batting great. Having made his debut as a teenager in 1989, Tendulkar didn’t take long to establish himself as one of the best in the world.

By the time, he faced Shoaib Akhtar for the first time in his career, he was Team India’s batting mainstay and was fondly called the ‘God of Cricket’ by the fans. There was a phase in the 90s when Tendulkar carried the Indian batting lineup single-handedly which made the fans give him that nickname.

Bowling to Tendulkar must have been a tough task for many a bowlers while the India legend was in his prime but Shoaib Akhtar has insisted he felt otherwise. He recently recalled the match when he faced the former India batsman for the first time which was in the the famous 1999 Kolkata Test.

The outspoken former Pakistan bowler insisted that his first reaction was ‘iski khairiyat nahi’ ( he won’t be spared) when he faced the Master Blaster. Shoaib Akhtar said he wanted to dismiss Tendulkar on the very first ball and he went on to do so.

“I heard Sachin was the god. I said this is a god? Iss ki khairiyat nahi. He didn’t recognize me, and I didn’t recognize him. He was in his own attitude and I was in my attitude. But I wanted to get him out on the first ball and that happened,” Shoaib Akhtar told Pakistani news channel ARY News in an interview on Saturday.

The tearaway pacer had clean bowled Sachin on the very first delivery with a stunning delivery. On the previous delivery, he had sent back the legendary Rahul Dravid. The former pacer had later dismissed Venkatesh Prasad in his maiden Test against India to finish with figures of 4/71 in the first innings before picking up another four-wicket haul in the second innings to help Pakistan win the Test match by 46 runs.

Shoaib Akhtar vs Sachin Tendulkar:

During their careers, Tendulkar and Akhtar had some memorable on field duels and both enjoyed considerable success against each other. Akhtar dismissed Tendulkar 8 times – 5 times in ODIs and 3 times in Tests – in international cricket. In T20 cricket he dismissed Tendulkar once in an IPL match while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.

On the other hand, Tendulkar averaged 45.5 in ODIs against Pakistan in 19 matches involving Akhtar and 41.60 in 9 Tests involving the former pacer.

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