“Sourav Ganguly was the bravest batsman”: When Shoaib Akhtar rubbished rumours of Sourav Ganguly being afraid of his bowling

Sourav Ganguly and Shoaib Akhtar were two of the most aggressive players on the field. Being a fast bowler, Akhtar was obviously naturally aggressive, whereas Ganguly was one of the best six hitters and his approach was clear in his captaincy as well. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, India and Pakistan played a lot of cricket against each other.

Ganguly and Akhtar were on the opposing ends, and Akhtar once revealed that the Pakistan side used to target the ribs of Ganguly as he was not that comfortable against the short balls. In 1999, Akhtar was on the money against Ganguly and one of his deliveries smashed Ganguy’s ribs, where the Indian southpaw was down on the ground.

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However, the Indian captain scored a century against the same opposition after almost a year. Akhtar always said that he loved bowling against the Indian attack as they had some of the biggest names out there in the middle. There were rounds that Ganguly was afraid of Akhtar, but the Pakistan pacer himself busted the myth.

When Shoaib Akhtar rubbished rumours of Sourav Ganguly being afraid

Shoaib Akhtar gave an interview to the Helo app where he said that Ganguly was one of the bravest batters, and he was not at all afraid to face him. Akhtar insists that Ganguly was not comfortable against the short balls, but he was brave enough to take hits on his body and play all along.

“People used to say that he was scared to face fast bowling, he was afraid to face me. I think all of that was rubbish. Sourav Ganguly was the bravest batsman, the only opener who could face me with the new ball.”

“He knew, he didn’t have the shots, I also targeted him by bowling at his chest but he never backed away, and still scored runs that are what I call bravery.”

Akhtar was a part of the Kolkata Knight Riders during IPL 2008, where he played under the captaincy of Ganguly. He had a lot of praise for Ganguly’s captaincy and said that Dhoni benefited greatly as the got a team to lead that was nurtured by none other than Sourav Ganguly.