Old video of Shoaib Akhtar admitting to trying to hurt Sachin Tendulkar intentionally in 2006 goes viral

Shoaib Akhtar vs Sachin Tendulkar was one of the most enthralling battles that fans always enjoyed during their playing days. Pakistan’s Akhtar was one of the fastest bowlers while India’s Sachin was one of the best batters to ever play this game. But, now an old video has gone viral where Akhtar was seen admitting to trying to hurt Sachin intentionally during the infamous 3rd Test between India and Pakistan at the National Stadium, Karachi in 2006.

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The video is from an interview that Akhtar did with Sportskeeda in 2022 and he was seen saying: “I want to reveal this today that I really wanted to injure Sachin in that match…I was determined to hurt Sachin at any cost in that match…And I kept at it although Inzamam-ul-Haq asked to bowl in front of the wickets”. 

Here is the viral video:

J!had everywhere..

Even in cricket.. 🤲🏽 pic.twitter.com/Do3HfOEkuG

— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) September 10, 2023

“I saw the replay and found that the ball hit on his forehead” - Shoaib Akhtar regarding Sachin Tendulkar

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“So I deliberately hit on his helmet and even thought that he (Sachin) would be dead…I saw the replay and found that the ball hit on his forehead…I then tried to injure him again,” he further added. However, India lost that match by 341 runs and the Men in Green won that three-match Test series 1-0. Sachin scored 23 and 26 respectively in two innings. Speaking of his record against Akhtar, Sachin was dismissed only twice by the former Pakistan pacer.

While in ODIs, he was dismissed by Akhtar four times and even in T20s, Akhtar dismissed Sachin once. However, this was not the first time when the former Pakistan pacer revealed that he intentionally wanted to hit a batter.

While talking to Sports Tak in October 2021, Shoaib Akhtar confessed that he intentionally bowled a ‘deadly beamer’ to MS Dhoni during the Test match between India and Pakistan in 2006 in Faisalabad. He said: “I had made the same mistake with Dhoni in Faisalabad. I had thrown a beamer at him intentionally. Dhoni is such a nice guy and I respect him. I felt very bad about it. Yes, he is a good player who hit me for a few runs. Why did I decide to attack him (with a beamer)? If the ball would have hit Dhoni, he would have been grievously hurt (do-teen-panch) in 2005 itself.”