The battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar was always an intriguing one to watch out for. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the rivalry between India and Pakistan was at its peak, and we saw some great encounters between both sides. Even Akhtar said that he loved bowling against the Indian batters.
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Akhtar once revealed that they planned to bowl a shorter ball ploy against Sourav Ganguly, and it worked as well. However, he also called Ganguly the bravest batter he ever bowled to. Ganguly was not the only one, and once Akhtar also injured Tendulkar’s ribs with his shorter delivery.
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Tendulkar dealt with a lot of injuries throughout his career, and a rib injury was one of them. During an ODI match between India and Pakistan in 2007, Tendulkar got severely injured against Akhtar. Tendulkar revealed that he was in so much pain that he could not even breathe.
When Sachin Tendulkar shouted at Sourav Ganguly after breaking his ribs
Tendulkar talked about the same incident in an Infosys event last year, where he revealed how Ganguly was concerned when he got it. He hilariously called Ganguly ‘Dr’ and said that he had to shout at Ganguly to make him quiet. Tendulkar stated that Ganguly was feared about him leaving the field, but he was adamant to bat.
The Master Blaster knew that it was a serious injury on the very first impact only, and he could not even laugh or cough after it. He said that he didn’t want to show his pain to the bowler to play with his mind.
“Dr. Ganguly was at the non-strikers’ end! He heard it obviously. I told Ganguly chup! [Keep quiet, I can’t talk!]. And I am not leaving this place, don’t worry. It was a serious blow; like someone punching you at 95 km per hour,” Sachin Tendulkar said in an Infosys event.
“Dada was I think the captain and was worried that I would go to the dressing room. So, I told him don’t worry, I am going to continue batting.”
After the Pakistan tour, Tendulkar carried the same injury to Australia where he designed a special chest guard for himself. However, he was forced to return back from Australia due to the same injury.
