Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has reiterated that batting legend Sachin Tendulkar was ‘scared’ to face Shoaib Akhtar in some spells during their famous duels.
“Sachin obviously won’t say it himself that ‘I’m scared’. There were some spells from Shoaib Akhtar in which not only Sachin but some of the world’s best also got shaken up,” Afridi told TV anchor Zainab Abbas in a chat on her YouTube channel.
“When you are fielding at mid-off or covers, you can see it. You can sense the body language of a player. You can easily understand that a batsman is under pressure, he is not at his usual best. I’m not saying that Shoaib has scared Tendulkar always but there have been some spells from Shoaib that have pushed some of the world’s best including Tendulkar onto the backfoot,” Afridi said.
Akhtar got rid of Tendulkar three times in nine Tests and five times in 19 ODIs. Afridi went on to add that Tendulkar looked scared to face off-spinner Saeed Ajmal too during the 2011 World Cup which India won.
“During the World Cup, he also looked scared of Saeed Ajmal,” Afridi said. “It’s not a big deal, players do feel the pressure at times and it becomes difficult.”
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