“Feared I would never get an Indian Visa” - When Shoaib Akhtar’s prank of lifting Sachin Tendulkar went horribly wrong

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has narrated an amusing incident involving himself and Sachin Tendulkar during Pakistan’s 2007 visit to India. At an awards function during the tour, Shoaib Akhtar tried to lift Tendulkar for fun but ended up dropping him, which scared the hell out of the Rawalpindi Express.

Pakistan toured India for five ODIs and three Test matches in November-December 2007. The was the last time India and Pakistan featured in a bilateral Test series.

Looking back at the tour, Shoaib Akhtar provided some interesting details of the incident involving him and Tendulkar.

Speaking on Sportskeeda’s official YouTube channel, he revealed:

“After Pakistan, if there is one country where I have received a lot of love, it is India. I have a lot of good memories from my visits to India. During the 2007 tour, there was an awards function. So obviously, there was a get-together after the function. As usual, I wanted to do something different. So I tried to lift Sachin Tendulkar, just for fun. I managed to lift him but then he slipped from my hands. Tendulkar fell down, not that badly, but I thought to myself that ‘I am dead’. I feared that if Sachin Tendulkar gets unfit or injured, I would never get an Indian Visa. The Indians would never allow me to come back to the country or would burn me alive.”

Adding that while they were rivals on the cricketing pitch, Shoaib Akhtar stated that he was great friends with Tendulkar off the field. Sharing more about the incident, the former pacer continued:

“When he fell down I really thought I am done for life. I remember Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were also there and they were telling me, ‘what are you doing man?’ And I responded saying ‘I don’t really know, it just happened.’ So then I went and hugged Tendulkar and asked him if he was okay. Thankfully, he said he was fine. Then I told him if anything would have happened, it could have caused big trouble to me, especially with the media and all the fans in India. Tendulkar later hammered us in the series. At that point, I wished he was unfit (jokingly).”

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I once jumped on Yuvraj’s back, pressed Shahid Afridi’s neck: Shoaib Akhtar

In the same video, Shoaib Akhtar admitted that he had a habit of playing pranks, which sometimes went wrong and even ended up injuring people. Revealing details, he added:

“Yuvraj is my buddy. I once jumped on his back. Bhajji is a witness to that. I pressed Shahid Afridi’s neck, he got hurt and was ruled out. So these are the instances I remember. It’s not a great joke but I just did it for fun and sometimes injuries happened.”

Shoaib Akhtar is all praises for Sachin Tendulkar for his ability to brilliantly face the bowling legends like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shane Warne and doesn't want to compare him with Virat Kohli 🇮🇳🏏💥#sachintendulkar #viratkohli #shoaibakhtar #india #teamindia pic.twitter.com/tFXMzNZ0WL

— Sportskeeda India (@Sportskeeda) July 23, 2021

Renowned as one of the fastest bowlers of his time, Shoaib Akhtar played 46 Tests, 163 ODIs and 15 T20Is, claiming 444 international wickets.