The India vs Pakistan cricket rivalry is one of the biggest in the world of sports, with the two nations featuring in some iconic games over the years. While India has produced some of the finest batters the game has ever seen, Pakistan’s prowess with the ball, especially in the pace department, has been their biggest strength. Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali has recalled his playing details, providing some interesting insights of their dressing room dynamics. Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Ali admitted that the Pakistan players were scared of India batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
While insisting that India had a lot of great batters in their team including former captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Ali recalled Wasim Akram‘s pep talk to the players before the match regarding Tendulkar.
“He (Tendulkar) was a top order batter and I was a middle order batter, so we used to see his batting. In our team meetings, our captain at that time Wasim Akram used to say everywhere, even during practice, even during meals, ‘dismiss Sachin and we’ll win the match’,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
“And soon as Sachin used to get out, Pakistan used to win the match. Even though the great Azharuddin was there, but we were not scared of Azharuddin, but definitely scared of Sachin Tendulkar,” the 53-year-old added.
Tendulkar leads the ODI run-scoring charts in the rivalry between India and Pakistan, scoring 2526 runs in 67 innings in 69 matches. He also scored 1057 runs against Pakistan in Test cricket, averaging over 42.
Tendulkar, known as ‘Master Blaster’ for his ability to blast his way through any bowling attack and his very mastery over every skill, technique and shot in the book, this right-handed batter entertained and mesmerised the entire world with his batting from 1989-2013.
The Maharashtra-born player made his Test debut on November 15, 1989, at the age of 16. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.
With 34,357 runs in 664 international appearances at an average of 48.52, Sachin is the highest run-scorer in international cricket. He has scored 100 centuries and 164 half-centuries, most in international cricket. He is the only player to have a century of centuries.
(With ANI Inputs)
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