Srinagar: Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has recalled his conversation with Saqlain Mushtaq ahead of Sachin Tendulkar’s epic dismassal in Chennai Test in 1999.
At 254 for 6, Team India only required 17 runs to outclass arch-rivals Pakistan led by legendary pacer Wasim Akram in the Test series opener at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium back in 1999. With Sachin Tendulkar batting on 136, India were heavily tipped to register a comfortable win over Pakistan at Chennai. Sachin was closing in on wrapping up the contest in India’s favour. What followed next shell-shocked every Team India fan.
Mushtaq outfoxed Tendulkar and India’s lower-order went down like ninepins as Pakistan stunned the cricket fraternity with a monumental win over the Asian giants in their backyard.
Former Pakistan skipper Akram recently revealed how the Sultan of Swing masterminded the jackpot wicket of the Master Blaster.
“The Chennai Test is very special to me… It was very hot and the pitch was bare, which suited us because we relied on reverse-swing. We also had one of the best spinners at the time in Saqlain Mushtaq. Nobody could pick the doosra delivery that he had invented at the time. Sachin [Tendulkar] played him well after the first innings. Every time he bowled the doosra, Sachin went for the lap shot just behind the keeper. A very odd shot to play against the off-spinners’ doosra but he mastered it and that’s why Sachin was one of the greatest of all time,” Akram told Sportstar.