Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram, two of the greatest cricketers the world has ever seen, were involved in some memorable battles on the field. While Tendulkar retired as the only man with 100 international hundreds and 200 Test caps, Akram remains one of only two bowlers with over 500 ODI wickets.
Tendulkar and Akram share great mutual respect for each other now but there was a point in the former’s career when he was mocked.
But it wasn’t just the pace Tendulkar had to deal with. The Pakistanis are known for their ready wit and Sachin got to encounter some of that dry humour on his very first tour.
Akram, speaking at Salaam Cricket 2018, revealed what he had said to Sachin Tendulkar as he walked out to bat.
“We had read about Sachin…. that there’s a sensation coming.. a 16-year old. But when he came (out to bat), he looked 14 years old and I told him, “mummy se puchke aaya hai?” (Did you ask your mother before coming?)
This left the audience in splits. There were many more such moments during a session where all 11 legends at Salaam Cricket – Akram, Sunil Gavaskar, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-haq, Abdul Qadir, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammad Azharuddin, R Ashwin, Habibul Bashar, Muttiah Muralitharan and Madan Lal regaled the audience with some funny stories in the final session of the day.
Harbahajan Singh also recalled an incident involving Akram. The feisty Indian off-spinner had to say sorry to Akram after scoring a boundary off him.
Here’s Harabhajan narrating the incident. “Wasim bhai was my hero and it was my third fourth Test match but playing against him was a huge thing, I was scared to bat against him. But somehow I touched my bat to his ball and it went for four. On his way back, he was like “teri…” and I was like… “Paaji, galti ho gai.”
Gavaskar: Bruce Yardley of Australia. I wasn’t able to pick when he delivered the ball and he had a long run-up for an off-spinner. I was uncomfortable in playing him. I went to Chetan during a match and told him I can take Len Pascoe and you take Yardley. He was like I was going to say the same but you would have misunderstood.
