"You Don't Know How To Play...": Ex-Pakistan Pacer On Riling Up Sehwag

India-Pakistan rivalry is such that it often throws up interesting anecdotes. When the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team faces Pakistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup on October 15, needless to say, some more incidents will be added to the folklore. While the players between the two sides mostly share a cordial relationship, there have been incident where things have gone over the top. Mind games have often been played by both sides, and it resulted in some intriguing incident. Former Pakistan pacer Rana Naved Ul Hasan recounted once such incident involving Virender Sehwag.

"I will tell you an incident. There was a match where Sehwag was playing on 85. I am talking about the 2004-05 series which we won going there. I was the player of the tournament. The series was such that we were trailing 2-0. It was a best-five series. In the third match of the series, Sehwag was hitting big. They almost scored 300 and Sehwag was nearing 85. I asked Inzy bhai to give me the ball. I bowled a slow bouncer," Rana Naved Ul Hasan said on Nadir Ali Podcast. 

"I went up to him and said 'You don't know how to play. Had you been in Pakistan, I don't think you would have ever made it to the international team. He said a few things back to me. On my way back I told Inzi bhai... 'Next ball, he is getting out'. He was surprised. I bowled a back of the hand slower ball, and an infuriated Sehwag tried to hit it big but holed out. The wicket was so important that we won that match. These are certain tricks of the fast bowler."

However, there are some factual discrepancies in Naved's statement. While Naved was the player of the series with 15 scalps, the series was a six-match one and not 5-match. Pakistan won the series 4-2 after losing the first two games. However, the match which Naved is probably mentioning was the second ODI in Visakhapatnam which India won. Sehwag was batting on 74 off 40 ball when Naved dismissed him. However, Pakistan lost that game by 58 runs. 

from NDTV News- Topstories https://ift.tt/0PoaeLM