Shoaib Akhtar regrets bowling beamer to MS Dhoni during 2006 Faisalabad Test
Another day, and Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has come up with another statement that makes one stand up and take notice. This time though it is about an incident that occurred during his playing career.
FollowFormer Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has said that he shouldn't have bowled a beamer to Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni during the 2006 Faisalabad Test. Akhtar said that it was the first time he had done so on purpose and he apologised to the former Indian captain after that.
"I think I had bowled an 8-9 over spell in Faisalabad. It was a quick spell and Dhoni scored a hundred. I purposely bowled a beamer to Dhoni and then apologised to him," Akhtar told Aakash Chopra on the latter's YouTube channel 'AakashVani'.
"It was the first time in my life I had bowled a beamer purposely. I shouldn't have done it. I regretted it a lot. He was playing so well, and the wickets were so slow. However fast I was bowling, he kept on hitting. I think I got frustrated."
Dhoni had scored his first-ever Test century in what was a run feast of a match that ended in a draw. He scored 148 off 153 balls to help India overshadow Pakistan's first innings total of 588 with India scoring 603.
Pakistan however came back strongly and scored 490 and after India spent a short amount of time on the crease in their second innings, the two teams shook hands.
Earlier, Akhtar had also spoken about his first ball dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar.
“I heard Sachin was the god. I said this is a god? Iss ki khairiyat nahi. He didn’t recognize me, and I didn’t recognize him. He was in his own attitude and I was in my attitude. But I wanted to get him out on the first ball and that happened,” Akhtar told Pakistani news channel ARY News in an interview.
