“I have a huge fan base in India”: Shoaib Akhtar schools Indian journalist post her attempt to draw adverse reactions from him regarding former Indian cricketers

Shoaib Akhtar schools Indian journalist as latter’s attempt to fuel unwarranted tension between him and former India players take a backseat.

A cricket match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan manage to attract eyeballs of even those in both the countries not interested in watching/following the sport at all.

The two major reasons for it being such a big hit is because: 1) Barring the previous few encounters, the India-Pakistan matches generally go down to the wire, making people restless on the edge of their seats, and 2) The jingoistic fervour which unwarrantedly equates a mere game of Cricket to a war-like situation, backed by the ever-rising political tensions between the two countries for more than seven decades now.

As India and Pakistan geared for their first match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 yesterday, the media houses from both sides of the border commenced with their leg-pulling and mudslinging of former Cricketers from their rival nations, despite inviting them as part of their guest panel.

Shoaib Akhtar schools Indian journalist

An Indian journalist named Aditi Tyagi from ‘Zee News’ attempted to draw an adverse reaction from the former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who was invited to the channel’s programme ahead of the India-Pakistan clash which took place on Sunday.

Tyagi referred to a statement made by former India batter Virender Sehwag, where the latter was referring to a previous incident from his playing days, when he had allegedly hurt Akhtar with an unavoidable comment.

The anchor wished to know whether Akhtar too had some memory of a similar sort of incident where he might have given it back to an Indian player during his career, and which he might wish to expose via her show.

The 47-year-old initially admitted to have enquired Sehwag and even Gautam Gambhir regarding the aforementioned claim made by the former, which, as per him, were denied by both the former Indian openers explicitly.

However, instead of clinging to the nauseating bait, Akhtar gracefully schooled the anchor by stating that he has huge respect for the Indian team and he in fact has a decent Indian fan following as well. Thus, he would not only like to be respected by the anchor, but would also not wish to speak something which would escalate the differences between the two countries.

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