WATCH: Virender Sehwag hilarious banter on Shoaib Akhtar's long run up

There have been a lot of matchups between batters and bowlers in the game of cricket which we have enjoyed watching. The matchups of Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne, Brian Lara and Glenn McGrath,  and Virat Kohli vs. Mitchell Johnson are some of the most popular ones which we have witnessed in our time. These matchups are something we look forward to seeing who will finally come on top in the matches. The amount of anticipation to see a world-class batter play an equally exceptional bowler is something we like to witness every time we see a cricket match.

The one rare matchup which nobody talks about is between Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar who have faced off in many Indo-Pak battles in the past. While Sehwag was one of the most dangerous opening batters who liked to attack the bowlers from ball one, Shoaib was one of those bowlers who was feared by almost every batter due to his sheer pace which used to give nightmares. These were two of the most aggressive cricketers in the world who were very much in their prime in the early 2000s. in the 18 innings, these two have gone head-to-head Sehwag has hit 241 runs at an average of just over 60 while the Rawalpindi Express had gotten him dismissed 4 times as well.

Sehwag and Shoaib’s banter

The one thing everyone remembers about Shoaib Akhtar is his long run which used to be equally as terrifying as his bowling. The pacer used to sprint so fast with his long hair almost flying off his head. Sehwag brought up the experience of facing Shoaib in the match saying that whenever he used to run in with his wide eyes, he was terrified and used to look down for a while thinking he would take 15 seconds to get to his follow-through.  This led to Shoaib asking the former opener if this approach distracted him at all, to which Sehwag replied that looking at him gave him terrible thoughts which he didn’t want while batting.

Watch the video below-

Hamaray pyaray Viru bhai @virendersehwag yeh batatay huay k mera lamba run up ko kitna intezar kerwata tha.
And he feels it was a big distraction. @ilt20official @ilt20onzee #dpworldilt20 #allinforcricket pic.twitter.com/xwzJFFpZdp

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) January 21, 2024

This reply caused the whole panel of experts including Shoaib to burst out laughing while hearing the answer. This was a great story shared by Sehwag which gave us a bit of nostalgia for how he used to approach the game in his time as well. We might never find an opener like Sehwag and a fast bowler like Shoaib in the future who used to be one of the feared players in their prime. However, this showed a difference between the two where Shoaib liked to get into the face of the batter and Sehwag was just enjoying his game in the middle where he wanted to just score runs quickly.