Akhtar and Hayden don't get along after the latter's comments made things uneasy between them.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar recalled the time when his banter with Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden turned into a fight. It was the time of the World Cup in 2003 when Akhtar and Hayden had a wrangle.
Talking to England's Andrew Flintoff in a podcast, Akhtar revealed, “I got into a fight with Matthew Hayden. The first game of the World Cup. We lost it, I completely lost it. Me and Matthew Hayden never got on really well."
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“He never knew about me. He called me ‘C-grade actor and ‘a low-grade fast bowler’. So I said that ‘Matthew, I am going to get you to the World Cup’. Bad luck, we lost the game, and it was even more bad luck that we got up for breakfast very early in the morning,” he added.
Akhtar said things got really bad between them during breakfast. “He and I were standing alone, having breakfast, and had a verbal chat. And we got into a fight. A really, really bad fight. So thank god, they came in and pushed us away,” he said.
The ex-Pakistan speedster admitted that Hayden used to tease him a lot with his teammate. “Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer - they used to tease me a lot. They used to ask me to bowl quick, and quick, and quick. I wasted a lot of my energy in Melbourne and Perth Test matches.
“I hit them very badly, I hit Hayden about five times in three overs. But the guy never moved an inch. I was shocked to see that. People used to get under my skin a lot,” he said.