“He is a Punjabi brother and yet he will misbehave with us?”: Shoaib Akhtar once recalled how he was looking for Harbhajan Singh for a fight

The rivalry between India and Pakistan is one of the most heated rivalries, and it goes beyond sports as well. When there is a cricket match between both these nations, there is a lot of buzz about the same. Both these teams nowadays meet each other in multi-team tournaments only, and the organizers always assure at least a single game between both.

The players of both sides have also been in some heated situations, and the same happened between Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar during the 2010 Asia Cup. India got the target of 268 runs, and Singh joined Indian batter Suresh Raina at the crease. Singh smashed Akhtar for a six early on in his innings and that angered Akhtar.

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In the last over, Akhtar was bowling bouncers to Singh, and even the umpire had to intervene in between. India needed 3 runs off the last 2 balls, and Singh then smashed Akhtar for a six towards mid-wicket to seal a win for the Indian team. Singh was elated after the same and his celebrations are still fresh in Indian fans’ minds.

Shoaib Akhtar once recalled how he was looking for Harbhajan Singh for a fight

Shoaib Akhtar once recalled he was so frustrated with Singh that he was looking for him in the hotel to have a fight with him. Akhtar called him his Punjabi brother as well. Pakistan’s ace pacer said that he could find Singh in the hotel as the spinner already knew that the Rawalpindi Express was coming for him. Akhtar then revealed that Singh apologized to him the next day.

“I went looking for Harbhajan Singh in the hotel room to fight with him,” Akhtar had said in a video interview on the Helo app.

“He eats with us, roams around with us in Lahore, culture is similar to us, he is a Punjabi brother and yet he will misbehave with us? I thought I will go and fight with him in the hotel room. He knew that Shoaib was coming. But I couldn’t find him. I calmed down the next day and he had also apologized.”

Even Singh had also confirmed the incident once where he said that he was quite feared of Akhtar as he was like a Hulk, and he earlier bashed both him and Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. That’s why he was hiding from Akhtar when he got the news that the pacer was looking for him.