Shoaib Akhtar revealed the batsman he badly wanted to hurt.
Shoaib Akhtar had invited his followers on Twitter on Monday to guess who is that one player he badly wanted to hit during his playing days. After much hype, he finally revealed it and it is no other than the Australian opener Matthew Hayden.
The Rawalpindi Express posted on Twitter that he has hurt 19 batsmen in total but enjoyed it only once – when he hit Hayden. He said, “It was Matthew Hayden I wanted to hit badly during my playing days & I did that many times during test & practice games&now we r best mates.”
He said in another tweet afterwards that now they are best of friends. “But now we are best of friends now & I think he’s 1 of the most generous & kind human being I ever met is Matthew Hayden,” Shoaib tweeted.
Did u know about this fact that have injured more batsman,s then any 1
which i never enjoyed it but apart-from 1 guess who is it ?? pic.twitter.com/N9wJ8axV8s
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) 24 July 2017
It was Matthew Hayden I wanted to hit badly during my playing days & I did that many times during test & practice games&now we r best mates.
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) 25 July 2017
But now we are best of friends now & I think he’s 1 of the most generous & kind human being I ever met is Matthew Hayden.
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) 25 July 2017
The animosity between the two players go back to a match in Pakistan’s tour of Australia in 1999 as Hayden was in his best form then, having played seven Tests.
Out of the five Tests the two cricketers have played against each other, Shoaib has dismissed Hayden thrice – all in the 2004 home series, which was full of sledging.
In an interview at the beginning of this year, former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni named Shoaib as the most difficult bowler he had ever faced.
