Indore: India and Pakistan are the two biggest ‘enemies’ of world cricket. The enthusiasm off the field has always been visible on the cricket field. There have been many classical matches between the two teams. Earlier the Pakistani team used to dominate, nowadays the Indian team dominates. If you go into the past, you will find many such stories and unheard stories that will thrill you. The players of India and Pakistan also do sledging with each other. One such old incident is being remembered now.
In fact, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made a sensational claim that the team management asked the Men in Green players to sledge Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Navjot Singh Sidhu and even Vinod Kambli on the field. But the status of Mohammad Azharuddin was different. Basit claimed that there was a lot of respect for the former Indian captain in the Pakistan dressing room.
Basit said on his YouTube channel, ‘Before every India match, I was given the responsibility of sledging the Indian players. I was told to trouble Sachin, Jadeja, Sidhu, Kambli, but as soon as Azhar bhai’s name came up, the whole team would unanimously say that nobody would trouble Azhar bhai. I have no words to describe the respect we used to have for Azhar bhai in our dressing room.
Basit Ali further says, ‘Wasim (Akram) bhai, Salim Malik, Rashid Latif, Inzamam-ul-Haq or Waqar Yunus, no one ever dared to sledge Azhar bhai and would not have done so. I don’t think any Pakistani player has ever insulted Azhar bhai. Azhar bhai used to bat at number 3 and when players like Ganguly and Dravid came to Team India, he started coming down to bat and gave his place to youngsters.
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Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
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