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Tendulkar played 18 Tests and 69 ODIs against Pakistan during his 24-year-long career and scored 1057 and 2526 runs, respectively.
Wasim Akram names best batsman he ever bowled to. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram played 104 Tests and 356 ODIs for Pakistan during his 19-year-long international career from 1984 to 2003 and dismissed a total of 916 batters (414 in Tests and 502 in ODIs). During his illustrious career, the Sultan of Swing played against many great batters, which included the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Ricky Ponting, among others, and dismissed them all on multiple occasions.
But during a recent appearance on the Stick to Cricket podcast, when Akram was asked to name the “best batsman that he ever bowled to”, He mentioned former New Zealand captain and legendary opener Martin Crowe’s name.
Crowe played 77 Tests and 143 ODIs for the Black Caps from 1982 to 1995 and scored more than 10,000 runs. Crowe played 11 Tests against the Pakistani team and scored 973 runs with an average of 57.23, and in 26 ODIs, he amassed a total of 992 runs against the Men in Green.
According to Akram, “It’s a very difficult question to answer. But if you have to pick one who got runs against us but nobody knew what reverse swing was, it has to be great Martin Crowe.”
During the rapid-fire round, Akram, who led Pakistan to the 1999 ODI World Cup final, was also asked, “Would you rather win the World Cup or win the World Test Championship (WTC)?” And in reply he said, “World Test Championship. We didn’t have the World Test Championship, but that’s the ultimate, I reckon. Long race.”
Akram also picked Waqar Younis over the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Imran Khan as his favourite bowling partner.
Younis, who, like Akram, also served as Pakistan captain, played 87 Tests and 262 ODIs and dismissed 373 and 416 batters, respectively.
When asked to name the most underrated bowler from his era, Akram said, “I think in the beginning it was… I don’t remember that far, but if I have to name a Pakistani bowler, then it was Aaqib Javed. He was really good, and he was underrated.”
Aaqib, who is the current high-performance director of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan from 1988 to 1998 and picked up 54 and 182 wickets, respectively.
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