Picture Credit: Twitter
Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar wasn’t at all happy during a pre-game interview before the blockbuster India-Pakistan match in the Asia Cup. Akhtar was questioned about the famous ‘Baap baap hota he’ quote made by former India cricketer Virender Sehwag during one of the India-Pakistan matches.
Surprisingly, Akhtar denied that Sehwag had ever made any such statement and was furious at the journalist for repeating the same question and attempting to nudge him to make some sort of controversial statements through these incidents.
The journalist asked him if Sehwag had made the ‘baap baap hota hai’ comment, stating, "so can you share any other incident related to the India-Pakistan match?" To this Akhtar addressed it by saying if Sehwag had said this the situation would have been very difficult for the Indian batter.
Shoaib Akhtar said, “First thing, agar yeh cheez usne mere muh pe boli hoti toh woh bachta nahi. Mujhe nahi pata usne kab kaha yeh aur kis waqt kaha. In fact, maine khud usse ekbar pucha tha ki aise koi statement di hai ki nahi. Usne seedha bola ‘nahi’. Dusra baat yeh hai, aap jo program kijiye, aap zarur baatein kijiye, bara khusi ka mauka he but kaam qabil e izzat ho.
“Main sabka izzat karta hu, aap logon ki izzat karta hu. Bohut badi fan following hai India mein. Aur main humesha koshis karta hu ki aise baat na karu jisme do mulk ke beech zyada faasle badhe. And I'm not liking this one bit. I'm being very honest with you. Usne yeh kaha, usne yeh kaha. Let's come back to cricket. Bohot si ache baat kar sakte hai. I request you. Jis tarah yeh program hota he woh ache nehi lagta mujhe, wohi cheez baar baar repeat karna.”
To translate the above conversation, Akhtar said, "If he had said this to my face then it would have been very difficult for him. I don't know when and where he said this. I had even asked him once in Bangladesh whether he said this or not then he had denied it. Secondly, we should celebrate these occasions and talk about cricket rather than doing these. I respect India a lot, I respect you too and I never say such things which may create differences between the two countries."
Talking about the game India registered a famous victory over Pakistan, thanks to Hardik Pandya’s all-around performance as he scored a match-winning 33 in 17 balls while picking up three wickets. Now, the Men in Blue will face Hong Kong in their upcoming group stage game.