Saqlain told me about Sachin, I didn’t know him: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar makes bold claim

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has made yet another bold claim stating that he wasn’t aware of Sachin Tendulkar’s stature before coming up against him in international cricket. Tendulkar, who is regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time, enjoyed some fierce duels with Akhtar during his playing days.

Tendulkar was already a big name in world cricket and had established his credentials as one of the best in the game by the time Akhtar made his debut for Pakistan in 1997. The India legend at the time was taming the best bowling attacks in the world and piling on runs consistently across formats.

However, recently speaking in a video shared by Star Sports, Akhtar claimed he was unaware of Tendulkar’s stature as he used to be ‘lost in his own world’. Akhtar, who is one of the quickest bowlers to have played the game, said he only knew what the batter was thinking and what he would do.

“Saqlain told me about Sachin Tendulkar and his stature. I didn’t know about him. I was lost in my own world. I didn’t know. I only knew what I will do and what the batter was thinking,” Akhtar said in the video.

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Tendulkar and Akhtar crossed swords on the field on several occasions while representing their respective teams and dominated each other. While Akhtar holds the record for bowling the fastest delivery in international cricket, Tendulkar remains the leading run-getter of all time in international cricket.

The two shared an epic rivalry on the pitch as India and Pakistan used to meet regularly during their playing days. However, the two countries have not played any bilateral cricket since 2013 due to political tensions between the nations. India and Pakistan continue to meet only in major ICC tournaments.

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Speaking of the India-Pakistan rivalry, Akhtar explained how the Pakistani fast bowlers were different compared to the Indian pacers in the past. The Rawalpindi Express said Pakistani pacers used to look for excuses to bowl fast and he himself never missed out on an opportunity to have a go at the opposition with the ball.

“The big difference between your fast bowlers and ours was that we used to look for excuses to bowl fast. Whenever I used to realise that the ball is reverse-swinging, I thought, ‘If I get a spell here, I will run through the batters’. I will just take the five wickets there and win the match for Pakistan. You can’t be a star without being a match-winner. We used to win games for the country,” Akhtar said.