Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is known for telling many a stories on his YouTube channel and on Tuesday (March 15), he narrated another funny and unknown story related to him and Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.
In a YouTube chat with Indian content creators including stand-up comedians Tanmay Bhat and Zakir Khan, Akhtar revealed the story of Sachin and him paryting together in Lucknow once.
Here's what he said:
"I have many stories. One story is from Lucknow, we had a match over there. One night there was a party over there. India and Pakistani players were there. I went up to Sachin and told him, let me carry you on my shoulder. He is small in height so I thought it would be easy. But as soon as I picked him up, he slipped and fell on his back. I thought he is injured now. I asked him apologetically, "Sachin, lahi toh nahi na? (Are you okay?).
He replied, "Agar mujhe injury hui hoti na, tujhe India waale jala dete. Zinda (If I got injured, Indians would have burnt you alive).
Of course, that was an expression from Sachin that Indians would have never forgiven Akhtar for causing injury to the Master Blaster just before the match. What Tendulkar meant is that Akhtar would have faced the anger of Indian fans for injuring Sachin.
But it is indeed a very funny story and shows the kind of rapport and friendship India and Pakistani players used to have back in the day. They were tough competitors on the field, but they also pulled each other's legs off the field and partied together.
