Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar, on Saturday (4th June), revealed that he intentionally wanted to hit Sachin Tendulkar during the third Test in Karachi against India in 2006. 

The battle between Tendulkar and Akhtar was always an enthralling contest to watch. Both being the masters in their respective departments went neck to neck with each other and left no stone unturned in dominating each other. 

Known as Rawalpindi Express, Akhtar broke numerous records, including being the first bowler to officially break the 100 mph speed barrier. He was mostly known for his aggressive personality and he many times hit batters with his ferocious bouncers.

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On the other hand, Tendulkar, who is rated highly among the best batters to have played the game of cricket, had a calm and composed nature and he used to reply to bowlers with his bat. The prolific Indian batter has scored 34,357 across the formats to go with 100 centuries. The Mumbaikar clinched almost every record to his name, some of which are still unbroken. 

Speaking to Sportskeeda, Shoaib Akhtar made a shocking revelation that during the third Test of the 2006 series against Indians at home, he wanted to hit Sachin Tendulkar at any cost. He tried to hit him on the helmet but the batter managed to save his head. 

“I'm revealing this for the first time. I intentionally wanted to hit Sachin in that Test match. I was determined that I had to wound Sachin in that Test at any cost. Inzamam kept telling me that bowl in front of the wickets, but I wanted to hit Sachin. So I hit him on his helmet and I felt he was done. But when I watched the video, I saw Sachin had managed to save his head,” Shoaib Akhtar said. 

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Akhtar said he again tried to hit Sachin but on the other end Mohammad Asif, who took 7 wickets in the game, was making Indian batters’ stay on the crease horrible. 

"I again tried to injure him. But on other side, Indian batting was facing music in the shape of Asif. I had rarely seen anyone bowl as good as the way Asif bowled on that particular day,” he said. 

Talking about the third Test between Pakistan and India, the hosts defeated the Indian side by a big margin of 341 runs. The game had many memorable moments Irfan Pathan taking a hat-trick, Asif’s staggering spell of fast bowling, and many more. 

(Sportskeeda inputs)