During the prime of his cricketing career, Pakistani legend Shoaib Akhtar was known for delivering fire on the pitch. He recorded the fastest delivery (161 kmph) in the history of international cricket during his career. Recently, it was his quickfire banter with former South African batter AB de Villiers that grabbed eyeballs across Twitter.
The legendary duo recalled the good old days of sharing the same pitch in international cricket and got into a hilarious chat regarding Shoaib Akhtar’s pace.
It all started after Australian legend Shane Watson shared a video on his own birthday to mark the milestone of Akhtar breaching the 100-mile barrier for the first time. The two-decade-old clip was from a One Day International between Pakistan and Australia where Shane Watson faced a 100-mile bouncer against Akhtar. De Villiers was quick to spot the Twitter thread and praised the Rawalpindi Express, replying that the deliveries from Akhter still give him nightmares.
Akhtar asserted that de Villiers himself has been responsible for producing nightmares with his bat for many bowlers around the globe. The banter continued, with Mr 360 posting another message about a hilarious incident from his early career, when Shoaib Akhtar almost broke his leg after getting smashed with a six.
Then the fast-bowling supremo reposted an archive video where de Villiers got bowled out while attempting a pull shot against Akhtar. The delivery got the inside edge of the willow and scalped the middle stump. Akhtar humorously captioned the video saying, “not every pull went for a six though”.
Soon, the interaction of the legends went viral on social media, making crickets fans nostalgic
On 27 April 2002, Shoaib Akhtar engraved his name in the history books by breaching the 100-mile barrier for the first time during an ODI against New Zealand in Lahore. However, ICC later refused to consider the record due to some fault in the speedometer. In the 2003 World Cup, Akhtar stunned the world after bowling the fastest delivery at 100.2 mph (161.3 kmph) during a Group league match against England at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.
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