Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan’s former pacer reacted to a five-year-old tweet of his, which features a reply from former Indian swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag. However, there is a catch. Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag were great rivals on the field. Their duels during India’s historic 2005 tour of Pakistan and later were epic.
Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag tried to go one up over the other with both succeeding occasionally and honours remaining divided. The duo has been part of plenty of sledging incidents with both former cricketers narrating certain famous stories where verbal volleys were served. Even now, as both have retired, and are serving as analysts with different platforms and have their own YouTube shows, sparks continue to fly between the duo.
Shoaib Akhtar Replies To Virender Sehwag’s Morphed Tweet: I Swear I’m Going To Beat Him One Day
In a recent comedy show, Shoaib Akhtar was invited by YouTuber Tanmay Bhat, where the Indian comedian took the former Pakistan pacer on a meme-ride. Among the many memes and jokes that Tanmay Bhat showed Shoaib Akhtar, one of them was Virender Sehwag’s apparent reply to a tweet posted by Shoaib Akhtar in 2017.
The Rawalpindi Express had posted a picture of himself all suited up, with the caption: “Here is a new look… Hope you guys like it.”
The image also featured a reply to the tweet from Virender Sehwag’s Twitter handle.
It said, “@shoaib100mph order likh. 1 butter chicken, 2 naan, 1 beer.” When it was brought up, Shoaib Akhtar told Tanmay Bhat and rest of the comedians on the show, “I swear I’m going to beat him one day,” with a laugh referring to Virender Sehwag.
Here is the catch though. The image seems to be a morphed photo as no such tweet from Virender Sehwag’s handle was ever sent. In fact, it was a tweet from just another Twitter user, who admitted to have probably photoshopped the image.
Shoaib Akhtar And Virender Sehwag Have Continued To Be Part Of Friendly Banters On Twitter
Having said that, Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag have continued to be part of friendly banters on Twitter. Both continue to pull each other’s legs on the social media platform, notably over Indian and Pakistan team’s performances. Thankfully, it all continues to be in jest and nothing offensive or rude has ever been mentioned by either great.
Virender Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket- 319 against South Africa in Chennai, which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) . Virender Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket.
On 8 December 2011, he hit his maiden double century in ODI cricket, against West Indies, becoming the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the landmark. He is one of only two players in the world to score a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in Test Cricket.
Shoaib Akhtar, popularly known as Rawalpindi Express, has clocked the fastest delivery in the world at 161.3 kmph and the record is yet to be broken as well. The right-arm quick played 46 Tests, 163 ODIs and 15 T20Is for Pakistan from the period of 1997 to 2011 and claimed 444 wickets from 224 matches across all formats during his 14 years of an international career.
Shoaib Akhtar was undoubtedly one of the fastest bowlers in international cricket and his 178 Test wickets and 247 ODI scalps are a testament to what he achieved when he was in his prime form.