'Shahid Afridi was abusing Sachin Tendulkar a lot': Sehwag recalls India vs Pakistan 2003 World Cup match

India will be up against Pakistan on 28 August in an Asia Cup encounter. Both these slides are also slated to lock horns in the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. Now, as is the case with an India-Pakistan match, the build-up to the marquee event has already started and a number of former players are weighing in with their opinions. In the middle of this, former India opener Virender Sehwag has spoken about one such incident that took place when India took on Pakistan in the league match back in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. It was this match where batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was at his best and played an ODI innings with a superb 98 runs off just 75 deliveries as India chased down 274 runs set by Pakistan with six wickets in hand. They also managed to keep their unbeaten World Cup run against Pakistan intact. Tendulkar took the attack to Shoaib Akhtar and smashed him for 18 runs in this first over. After this, Akhtar was taken away from the attack and now, 19 years after the match, Sehwag has revealed what happened after that. Incidentally, during this match, Tendulkar started to cramp up and Sehwag came back as a runner when he was sledged by Shahid Afridi. “I also came to run for him during the game because he was having cramps, and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi was abusing him a lot, kept saying something or the other. But he remained focussed. He knew it was important for him to stay at the crease. He usually doesn’t take a runner, but still, he knew that if I come, I will run as he does. There won’t be any misunderstanding," Sehwag said in a video posted by Star Sports.

A chapter from the #GreatestRivalry that @virendersehwag deems the greatest! 🤩

Enjoy this story from the man himself and get set to #BelieveInBlue before the new edition of the #INDvPAK rivalry.#AsiaCup2022 | Aug 28, 6 PM | Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/UT9gzwehrg

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 17, 2022

Sehwag also spoke about the rivalry between both sides and said that the competition remained intense. He also said that the rivalry is such that there will be fights and incidents between players of both sides. “I remember there was a statement from Shoaib Akhtar that he will absolutely destroy the top order. I didn’t read the statement, and neither did Sachin, but Sachin did respond strongly to it in the first over of our innings. He hit 18 runs in that over,” Sehwag added. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.