‘After almighty, it is probably Sachin who made me star’: Shoaib Akhtar on Tendulkar’s golden duck in 1999 – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar and former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar have had some interesting battles on the field in the past.

However, one of the most talked about is the Test match at Eden Gardens in 1999 where the two players faced each other for the first time. Coming into the match, Tendulkar had already scored two centuries in his previous Test matches and was in red-hot form. However, Akhtar had some other plans as he bowled a lethal yorker to the India star, getting him out off his very first ball of the match.

File image of Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar. Image Courtesy: Twitter

Akhtar recalled that ahead of the match he had asked teammate Saqlain Mushtaq about Tendulkar and what would happen if he dismissed him.

“I remember asking, who is this god of cricket? He says, it’s Sachin Tendulkar. I told Saqlain, what if I dismiss him. He said, I have dismissed him in the last two Test matches and at Eden Gardens, and of course throughout the country, there is a lot of love for Sachin. But there they were very passionate about him. So Saqlain and I were having a bit of an argument about who is going to get Sachin out,” said Akhtar to Sportskeeda.

He said that after Rahul Dravid got out, Tendulkar was welcomed into the ground by a deafening noise which was something he had never experienced in his life.

“(Rahul) Dravid got out and in came Sachin. That is when I realised that the noise level was such that it would burst my ears. It was so loud and it was something I was experiencing for the first time. When there is around one lakh people cheering while Sachin is walking out, people would have thought Shoaib Akhtar is about to be walloped. Saqlain was saying, your time has come, you going to let him go? I said no way I am letting him go,” said Akhtar.

Jogging his memory, Akhtar remembers Tendulkar taking his own sweet time to get ready while he was waiting anxiously at the other end.

“Sachin was walking in very slow, his walk was not getting over. I turned around went to the start of my run up and turned back and even then he wasn’t ready. He was getting ready and (Pakistan captain) Wasim Akram was telling me Shebby don’t miss the line at all. Make sure that your reverse swing is ending on the wickets and bowl with everything you have got. I was quite anxious about getting him out. I remember quite clearly that I was thinking what to bowl to him. I knew what to bowl but there was so much sound, Wasim bhai was trying to talk to me and I was telling him that I can’t hear him. Then he started talking in gestures and I said, don’t do that he will understand what I am about to do.

“This was the kind of atmosphere and finally Sachin got ready. I started running in and I was completely focused on him. If he moved even a little bit, I would have been able to catch that. The ball went all the way to the crease, I made no mistake in my run-up, jump or action. I released the ball, Sachin lifted his bat and then, gone. He had a very high lift and the ball was reversing a lot. The ball that I bowled, I knew it would hit the stumps. I was not surprised and you would see that. After the almighty, it is probably Sachin who made me a star because of that incident,” added Akhtar.

Akhtar said as he uprooted Tendulkar’s middle stump and handed Indian great his first golden duck in Test cricket, the huge crowd at the Eden Gardens went completely silent.

“The crowd was silenced, you would be hearing only our voices in the broadcast. You will see in the video that Saqlain is celebrating the most with me. He was very happy for me,” he said.

Batting first, Pakistan managed just 185 runs in the first innings with Moin Khan top-scoring with 70 runs and Javagal Srinath taking 5/46. India replied with 223 with Sadagoppan Ramesh making 79, while Tendulkar copped his maiden golden duck in Test cricket at the hands of Akhtar who picked 4/71.

In second innings, Pakistan replied with 316 runs with Saeed Anwar making 188* and Javagal Srinath picking 8/86. Set 279 to win, India folded for 232 runs with VVS Laxman making 79 and Akhtar picking 4/47, as Pakistan won the match by 46 runs.

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