Intentionally bowled beamer to Dhoni during Faisalabad Test in 2006: Shoaib Akhtar
Aug 08, 2020
New Delhi [India], Aug 8 : Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he had bowled a beamer intentionally at wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni during India-Pakistan Test match at Faisalabad in 2006.
During the match, Dhoni had registered a century and he was seen constantly pulling and hooking Akhtar, which got the pacer riled up.
In the match, Dhoni had played a knock of 148 runs, registering 19 fours and 4 sixes.
"When India came to Pakistan, I had some injury in my landing leg still I decided to play by taking injections on a daily basis. The doctor would come and numb my leg to give me injections. The pitch in Faislabad was very slow and Dhoni went on to score a hundred," Akhtar told Aakash Chopra on the latter's Youtube show titled 'AaksahVani'.
"I think I had bowled an eight-nine over spell in Faisalabad. It was a quick spell and Dhoni scored a hundred. I intentionally bowled a beamer to Dhoni and then apologised to him," the pacer added.
Akhtar then further explained that it was the first time that he bowled a beamer intentionally.
"It was the first time in my life I had bowled a beamer purposely. I shouldn't have done it. I regretted it a lot. He was playing so well and the wickets were so slow. However fast I was bowling, he kept on hitting. I think I got frustrated," Akhtar said.
In the Faisalabad Test, India had registered 603 runs in reply to Pakistan's 588 runs in the first innings.
The hosts then declared their innings at 490/8, setting India a target of 476 runs.
The Rahul Dravid-led side then scored 21 runs for no loss in the final innings and the match ended in a draw.
Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.
The Rawalpindi Express last played an ODI in 2011 as he played against New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup.
