Baccho ne Afridi se autograph liya, fir Akhtar se pucha, 'aapka kya naam hai?'

Pakistan's former pace sensation Shoaib Akhtar is widely regarded as one of the most lethal fast bowlers in cricket history. Akhtar, who holds the record for the fastest delivery in the game (161kph against New Zealand, 2002), has enjoyed rivalries with some of the greatest batters in the sport; one of them being India's legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Both have had brilliant duels throughout their playing careers and it all began in 1999, when Pakistan had toured India for the first match of the Asian Test Championship.

Both sides played in Kolkata where Pakistan registered a close 46-run victory, and Akhtar had dismissed Tendulkar off the batter's very first ball of the first innings, leaving the crowd at Eden Gardens in absolute silence.

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India had a strong start to their first innings with opener Sadagoppan Ramesh and nightwatchman Anil Kumble stitching a 65-run partnership for the second innings. In the 51st over, however, Akhtar wreaked havoc as he castled Rahul Dravid (24) and Sachin Tendulkar off successive deliveries to trigger a batting-order collapse.

Almost 23 years later, Shoaib Malik has recalled an interesting incident that took place two days before the start of the Test in Kolkata.

Malik revealed that Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar and Azhar Mahood -- all who were the part of the Test -- had gone out for dinner two days before the match when the incident happened.

“Shoaib bhai, Shahid bhai bahar khaane pe gaye the. Kuch bacchey aaye, unhone autograph liya Lala se, aur Azhar bhai se. Fir Shoaib bhai se pucha, 'aapka kya naam hai?' (Shoaib bhai and Shahid bhai were out for dinner. Some kids came, they asked for autographs from Afridi and Azhar Mahmood. Then they asked Shoaib Akhtar, ‘what’s your name?'),” Shoaib Malik recalled on A Sports.

“Do din baad Test match tha, toh inhone kaha, 'do din ke baad aap sirf mera naam le rahe hoge'. Unhone Sachin ko pehli ball pe out kiya fir. (The Test was two days later. (The Test was two days later. Akhtar said, ‘You will only be taking my name after two days'. He then dismissed Sachin off his first ball)," Malik narrated the story, drawing applause for the former Pakistan pacer from the fellow experts in the studio – Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq.

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