India’s legendary batsman VVS Laxman recently opened up about his face-off with former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar who remains one of the fastest bowlers the game has ever seen.
Akhtar, who was known for his extreme pace and unbelievable capability of bowling consistently at 150 kmph, tormented the best in the business of his era with his fighting spirit, vicious bouncers, and toe-crushers.
During the playing days, the former fiery pacer also had some hard-fought battles with some of India's finest batsmen including VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Virender Sehwag.
However, the Indian greats managed to handle Akhtar’s fearsome pace and get the better of the Rawalpindi Express on many occasions with their class and caliber.
Recently, Laxman has named Akhtar as someone who is challenging to play. Shoaib, who is one of the most feared bowlers in cricket history, dismissed Laxman thrice in international cricket – twice in Test cricket and once in the ODI cricket in his career.
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Laxman was quoted as saying on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected: “It has to be someone like Shoaib Akhtar. Because he was probably the quickest bowler in world cricket at that time along with Brett Lee. Playing against him was always going to be challenging and he always was up to the fight.”
Noteworthy, Laxman, who was best known for his supremacy in the longest format of the game, scored 8,781 runs in 134 Tests, and 2,338 runs in 86 ODIs for India between 1996-2012.
