On Sunday (September 10), a video of Shoaib Akhtar went viral on social media wherein he was heard boasting about his deliberate attempt to cause life-threatening injury to former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
“I want to reveal this today that I really wanted to injure Sachin in that match…I was determined to hurt Sachin at any cost in that match…And I kept at it although Inzamam-ul-Haq asked to bowl in front of the wickets,” the former Pakistani pacer confessed to his ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour.’
Without any visible signs of remorse, he continued, “So I deliberately hit on his helmet and even thought that he (Sachin) would be dead…I saw the replay and found that the ball hit on his forehead…I then tried to injure him again.”
What if @shoaib100mph wanted to k!ll @sachin_rt with bouncers aiming his head? Let's play cricket @BCCI. Cricket is beyond boundaries for Indians.pic.twitter.com/rkQ2S7mlvf
— Pakistan Untold (@pakistan_untold) September 10, 2023
Shoaib Akhtar was talking about the infamous 3rd Test match played between India and Pakistan at the National Stadium in 2006. He made the contentious claims during an interview with Sportskeeda in June 2022. A clip of the interview has now gone viral on social media.
Shoaib Akhtar confesses to deliberately bowling a beamer to MS Dhoni
This was not the first time that the former Pakistani pacer had confessed to deliberately hurting Indian players during a cricket match.
While talking to Sports Tak in October 2021, Shoaib Akhtar conceded that he intentionally bowled a ‘deadly beamer’ to Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the Faisalabad Test match between India and Pakistan in 2006.
The Pakistani pacer said, “I had made the same mistake with Dhoni in Faisalabad. I had thrown a beamer at him intentionally. Dhoni is such a nice guy and I respect him. I felt very bad about it. Yes, he is a good player who hit me for a few runs. Why did I decide to attack him (with a beamer)? If the ball would have hit Dhoni, he would have been grievously hurt (do-teen-paanch) in 2005 itself.”
It must be mentioned that bowling a beamer is illegal during a cricket match. In the said delivery, the ball does not bounce and is tossed high by the bowler. Such a delivery has the chance of causing fatal head and facial injuries to a batsman.
While most of such beamers are delivered mistakenly, Shoaik Akhtar did it intentionally despite being fully aware of the possible consequences. A no-ball is awarded and the bowler gets a warning from the umpire.
On repeating the same offence during the match, he can be barred from bowling in the rest of the match.
