The former cricketer has spoken candidly about the Pakistan side’s sledging tactics when they played against their biggest rival, India.
During his short but memorable international career, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali faced an impressive Indian team with some of the best batsmen. From master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, there are some of the best hitters who led his squad in India batting in the early 1990s.
Often compared to legendary batsman Javed miandad during his playing days, Ali was able to represent the Green Army in 50 One Day Internationals (ODI) and 19 Test matches. We went down memory lane during a special exchange on . Recalling the epic on-field battle between the two Asian giants, Ali unnerved several Indian batsmen, including Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vinod Kamburi during the India Puck match. made it clear that he was tasked with Ali said in his correspondence with Azharuddin on his YouTube channel that none of the Pakistani players wanted to sled the former Indian skipper at the time.
“Before every Indian match, I was given the responsibility of sledding the Indian players. I was told to interfere, but the moment Azhar Bai’s name came up, the whole team said in unison that no one would interfere with Azhar Bai, we were holding on to Azhar Bai in the dressing room Words cannot express my respect,” Basit said. Azharuddin is the only cricketer to win Leading Team India honors for three consecutive World Cups, representing the Asian giants in 99 Tests and 334 ODIs. The middle-ranked hitter has 6215 RBIs in 50 overs. The former Indian skipper has amassed 9,378 runs in the game’s longest and oldest form.
“Wasim (Akram) Bai, Salim Malik, Rashid Latif, Inzmam Ul Haq, Waqar Younis, they didn’t dare to throw Azhar Bhai. I don’t think any Pakistani player insulted Azhar Bhai. Azhar Bhai batted for third early on, and when Ganguly and Dravid came on, he took turns starting batting deep, giving the youngster his place,” Ali added.