'I would beat him up at the ground and the hotel' - Shoaib Akhtar calls Sehwag's 'baap baap hota hai' story fake
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has finally responded to Virender Sehwag's famous 'baap baap hota hai' comment, and stated that he wouldn't have let the former Indian opener say such a thing to him.
In an interaction with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, Virender Sehwag once recounted a sledging incident involving Shoaib Akhtar, where the Rawalpindi Express challenged him to play shots to bouncers.
Sehwag, who had Sachin Tendulkar for company at the non-striker's end, said that he told Akhtar to bowl his short stuff to the Master Blaster instead.
" 'Woh tera baap khada hai wo non-striking end pe, uss ko bol woh mar ke dikhayega.' Non-striker end pe Tendulkar tha. Next over mai jab usne Tendulkar ko bouncer mara toh usne chakka mara, maine kaha beta beta hota hai aur baap baap hota hai," Sehwag told Shahrukh Khan.
This roughly translates to: " 'That's your father at the non-striker's end, tell him to hit you.' It was Tendulkar at the non-striker's end. When he bowled a bouncer to Tendulkar in the next over, he got hit for a six and I told Shoaib to remember the difference in class between the two."
Now, Shoaib Akhtar has come out and claimed that this incident never transpired. Speaking to Pakistan news outlet ARY News, the express fast bowler said he would have beaten Sehwag up.
"Would he survive after saying something like that to me? Would I leave him? I would beat him up at the ground and then at the hotel. The story has been made up," said Shoaib Akhtar.
Shoaib Akhtar on Sachin Tendulkar's aura
Shoaib Akhtar also spoke about how it was to bowl to the great Sachin Tendulkar and stated that he looked forward to bowling to the God of Cricket.
"I heard Sachin was the god. I said this is a god? Iss ki khairiyat nahi. He didn't recognise me, and I didn't recognise him. He was in his own attitude and I was in my attitude. But I wanted to get him out on the first ball and that happened," Shoaib Akhtar said.
Shoaib Akhtar has found himself in the news frequently over the past few months. He recently criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for selecting a large number of fast bowlers in the squad for the upcoming England tour.
The 44-year-old is one of cricket's fastest bowlers of all time and in 46 Tests and 163 ODIs, he picked up 178 and 247 wickets respectively.