New York: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar exclaimed a sign of relief when he was named in his long-time rival Sachin Tendulkar’s squad for an inaugural three-match series in the US.
“Thank God for that, that I am playing for Sachin and Sachin is playing for me. I am done bowling against him. I have been bowling against him for last 15 years and I was not looking forward to bowling against him, to be honest,” Akhtar said speaking to PTI.
“Tendulkar is a brutal force, he is the greatest player history has ever seen. I also never wanted to have a kind of India-Pakistan thing once again,” Akhtar said clarifying why he did not want to play against Tendulkar.
He said he wanted to be on Tendulkar’s team and enjoy the series.
Tendulkar and Australian cricket icon Shane Warne will captain 28 of the world’s greatest cricketers for the inaugural ‘Cricket All Stars’ series in New York, Houston and Los Angeles this month.
Akhtar described Tendulkar as a “great friend, great cricketer and an amazing person.” He said being on the same team, both he and Tendulkar will get to know what their respective playing strategies used to be when they played against each other for India and Pakistan.
“I have not seen him (Tendulkar) as a captain. I will see what kind of strategy he liked to give me and he will get to know a little bit from me that as a fast bowler what I used to think running up to him,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)