Published: Jan 25, 2023, 09:21 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 25, 2023, 09:21 PM (IST)
New Delhi: Basit Ali, a former Pakistan cricketer, said that none of his teammates ever sledged Mohammad Azharuddin, the former Indian captain when he was playing for Pakistan. He also mentioned the sledging strategies Pakistan used during the time he was playing for his team.
Basit revealed in a recent conversation that he was instructed to sledge players like Sachin Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja to disrupt their rhythm, but that when it came to Azhar, everyone had a great deal of respect for him, so none of his superiors on the team ever asked him to sledge Azhar.
“Before every India match, I was given the responsibility to sledge the Indian players. I was told to disturb Sachin (Tendulkar), Jadeja (Ajay), Sidhu (Navjot), Kambli (Vinod), but the moment Azhar bhai’s name used to come, the entire team unanimously said no one would disturb Azhar bhai. I don’t have words to describe the amount of respect we used to have for Azhar bhai in our dressing room,” Basit said in a video on his YouTube channel that also featured Mohammad Azharuddin.
“Be it Wasim (Akram) bhai, Salim Malik, Rashid Latif, Inzmam-Ul-Haq and Waqar Younis, they would no dare to sledge Azhar bhai. I don’t think any Pakistan player ever insulted Azhar bhai,” he added.
When talents like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made headlines, Azhar was captain of the Indian cricket team. Basit said that Azhar sacrificed his batting position to promote the youngsters who later became legends of the sport.
“Azhar bhai used to bat at No 3 and when the likes of Ganguly and Dravid came up, he started batting low down the order and gave the youngsters his slot,” said Basit.
