Former Pakistan All-Rounder and 2009 ICC T20 World cup winner Abdul Razzaq’s latest interview with Times of India is making plenty of news and in the same interview he disclosed the toughest Indian opponent he played against during his playing time.
Many would say that Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar must be his toughest opponent but in his own words, Abdul Razzaq said that Nawab of Najafgarh – Virender Sehwag was the most dangerous batter he bowled to. When the India-Pakistan rivalry was probably at its peak, Razaq had dismissed Sachin Tendulkar 6 times in One-Day Internationals.
Tendulkar gave Razzaq his flowers and had admitted that the Pak All-rounder was one of the toughest bowlers to Bat in front of and also shed light on Pakistan’s strategy against Viru and Tendulkar. “Virender Sehwag was the most dangerous player. After that Sachin Tendulkar. Pakistan used to plan against Sehwag and Tendulkar.”
https://youtu.be/Yof6e16kZIc
Razzaq also said that getting Sehwag and Tendulkar back to the dressing room used to be Pakistan’s game plan. “Pakistan used to plan against Sehwag and Tendulkar. Our plan used to be like – if we get these two wickets – Sehwag and Tendulkar – we will win the match.”
The 43-year-old said that after Sachin and Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh used to be Pakistan’s main concern in the middle-order. “In the middle order, Yuvraj Singh was the one. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Yuvraj were the big big names. When we dismissed them, we used to say yes, we have taken big wickets today. These were the players Pakistan seriously planned against.”
Meanwhile on the Sachin and Sehwag debate, the former has more runs in ODI cricket while the latter has more in the Red-ball format. Master Blaster Sachin has 2,526 runs (most by an Indian against Pakistan) in 69 ODI matches with an average of 40.
And Virender Sehwag on the other hand scored 1,276 runs in just 9 Tests against Pakistan.
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