Shoaib Akhtar recalls his ‘huge mistake’ in Indian T20 League

Shoaib Akhtar was a name in the cricketing world that struck fear in the hearts of even the best batters during his playing time. His pace and aggressive attitude were the biggest USPs of the Pakistani speedster. Shoaib Akhtar’s face off against the legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar was one of the biggest talked about on-field rivalries during the time. While the Indian batter had dominated the right-arm pacer many a time, Akhtar has dismissed Sachin 8 times in international cricket. Shoaib Akhtar was a part of the Sourav Ganguly-led Kolkata franchise in the Indian T20 League. He dismissed Sachin once during his stay in the tournament and as Akhtar recalls it turned out to be a pretty unforgettable experience for him.

Akhtar was a part of the Kolkata team in the 2008 season, and it was a match against the Mumbai team led by Sachin Tendulkar. Kolkata was bundled for just 67 runs in the match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Mumbai won the match very convincingly, but Akhtar dismissed Sachin for a duck and it did not go down well with the local crowd.

“Who told you to dismiss Sachin? That too in Mumbai?”: Sourav Ganguly

In a recent conversation with SportsKeeda, Akhtar revealed that the then Kolkata skipper had to change his fielding position due to the outburst from spectators. “We had scored really less. When the match began, the atmosphere was electric. It was Sachin’s city, Mumbai. It was Sachin Tendulkar vs Shoaib Akhtar and we at Kolkata had Shah Rukh Khan in the stadium as well,”- Akhtar said.

“The stadium and entire Mumbai was packed. Ahead of the match, we were having friendly chat and both Sachin and I greeted each other,”- he added. He then recalled that picking up Tendulkar’s wicket that day was a ‘huge mistake’ as he had to face the wrath of the spectators.

“It was a beautiful ground and a fantastic atmosphere. Stadium was fully packed. But I dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the first over itself and that was a huge mistake. Then I got a lot of abuses when I was at fine leg.”- Akhtar said recalling the incident. “Sourav Ganguly told me, ‘Come to mid-wicket, these people will kill you. Who told you to dismiss Sachin? That too in Mumbai?”- the former Pakistani speedster further added.