Mohammed Azharuddin recalled how he gave Sachin Tendulkar a chance to open in ODIs.
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali recalled how he would sledge Indian players like Sachin Tendulkar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ajay Jadeja, and Vinod Kambli during his playing days, but neither he nor the other players had the courage to get under the skin of Mohammed Azharuddin.
Ali made the stunning revelation during a live interaction with Azharuddin on his YouTube channel. The former cricketer revealed that all the Indian players faced harsh sledging from him, but Azharuddin was never a target for him or the entire Pakistani unit.
The former cricketer said that the entire Pakistani unit had huge respect for Azharuddin, and that’s why they never tried to sledge the former Indian skipper. He also revealed that the Pakistani players were asked to trouble other Indian cricketers during the team meetings.
Basit Ali said during the interaction with Azharuddin on his YouTube Channel: “I am falling short of words to describe the amount of respect we used to have for Azhar bhai in our Pakistan dressing room. I don’t remember any Pakistan player ever insulted Azhar bhai.”
Meanwhile, Azharuddin shared a story about Tendulkar from his early days with the Indian cricket team. He recalled how Tendulkar once came to him with a request to promote him up in the batting order in ODIs.
Azharuddin recalled, “He used to bat in the middle order during his first 69 ODIs. He never got enough opportunities to come up in the order. He asked me and I couldn’t say no to such a talented batter.”
On the other hand, Ali said that Azharuddin sacrificed his own slot in the No. 3 position to give Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid a chance at the start of their careers.
He signed off by saying, “When the likes of Ganguly and Dravid came up, Azhar bhai used to bat at No 3. He started playing lower down the order and left his slot for the youngsters.”