'Nothing like that happened': Shoaib Akhtar denies sledging Virender Sehwag, says Gautam Gambhir can provide proof

Former speedster Shoaib Akhtar has for the first time reacted on the sledging episode with is said to have taken place during an India-Pakistan Test.

The talks about the sledging became famous after Virender Sehwag had once told Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan about it.

However, Akhtar said ‘nothing like that happened’ and narrated the incident. According to Sehwag, the Pakistani fast bowler had tried to sledge him when he was batting close to 200 with Sachin Tendulkar at the other end.

“I was batting around 200. Shoaib was probably tired after bowling for so long. He came around the wicket and started to bowl plenty of bouncers and taunted me to hit a hook shot. Realising he will continue to do the same thing, I asked him to bowl a bouncer at Sachin Tendulkar, who was at non-striker’s end.

“In the next over when he bowled a bouncer to Sachin, he hooked it for a six,” Sehwag had said.

However, Akhtar has now stated that he had confronted Sehwag about his sledging remarks during the 2011 World Cup in the presence of Gautam Gambhir.

“Nothing like that happened,” Akhtar told Vimal Kumar in an interview in Helo app.

“Do you think I would let someone go if he says anything like that to me? We were sitting in Bangladesh during the 2011 World Cup. Gautam Gambhir was also there, go and ask him too. I held Sehwag and asked him, ‘did you say something like this on TV?’ He said no, he backtracked from his remarks. Gautam Gambhir was sitting alongside him. I told Sehwag ‘If I come to know that you have said something like this then I won’t spare you. You know I can be bitter at times’,” added Akhtar.

As for the remark made by Sehwag, the former opener did not exactly mention which match he was talking about, but it all indicated towards the Multan Test which took place in 2004. Shewag had become the first Indian to slam a triple ton and Tendulkar had scored unbeaten 194.

The other two occasions where Sehwag scored a double hundred against Pakistan like mentioned were in Bengaluru 2005 when he scored 201 and in Lahore in 2006 when he slammed 254. 

However, during the 201-run innings, Akhtar wasn’t a part of Pakistan’s XI and a year later when he smashed 254, Sachin did not bat as Sehwag and Dravid put on a record opening stand in that rain-affected match.

Interestingly, even in during the Multan Test, Sachin's innings did not have any hits over the rope, Hindustan Times reported.