Whenever there is an India vs Pakistan match, the emotions are at an all-time high. During the Test match between both sides in 1999 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the audience went mad during the match and started pelting stones at the Pakistani side after a controversial run-out of Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar.
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During the second innings of the match, Tendulkar collided with Pakistan’s pacer Shoaib Akhtar on the pitch and got run out. Tendulkar placed the ball towards mid-wicket on then Pakistan’s captain Wasim Akram’s delivery, while taking the third run, the collision happened and Tendulkar got out.
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Pakistan appealed for the same, and the umpire adjudged him out. The crowd was not impressed with Pakistan’s appeal, and they got furious. They started hurling abuses at the visitors, the situation got out of control, and the players had to go inside for a break.
Wasim Akram once revealed how Sunil Gavaskar approached him to recall Sachin Tendulkar
In his autobiography ‘Sultan: A Memoir’, Akram revealed that former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar along with the match referee came to him during the break. Gavaskar had asked Wasim whether he will recall Tendulkar back on the pitch. He said that the Indian crowd will love him for that gesture.
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Akram had insisted that he was thinking about fans in Pakistan and told Gavaskar that the people in his own country will hate him for the same. He had said that the game should continue, and it was too late to take the appeal back.
“During the break, I was approached by the match referee with Sunil Gavaskar. ‘Wasim, we think you should recall Sachin,’ said Sunny. People will love you in India. Sunny knew how partisan the Kolkata crowd could be – he had once refused to play a Test there because he had been so badly barracked the previous time,” Wasim Akram had written in his autobiography
“But I had my own fans to worry about. ‘Sunny bhai… they might love me in India but they’ll hate me in Pakistan’
Pakistan defeated India in 1999 Kolkata Test
Pakistan won the match by 46 runs in the end. India got the target of 279 runs, but they managed to score just 232 runs. Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar was the Man of the Match for playing a knock of 188* runs in the second innings. Akram took five wickets in the match.
