Former Pakistan quick Shoaib Akhtar has admitted that he regrets bowling a beamer to MS Dhoni on purpose during the second Test of the 2006 series against India in Faisalabad. In the first innings, Dhoni scored his maiden Test century – an incredible knock of 148 including 19 boundaries and four sixes.
A set Dhoni had taken on Akhtar, hitting him for three fours in an over before the pacer, coming from round the wicket, bowled a beamer to the India wicketkeeper, which was a little wayward and went for five wides.
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14 years later, Akhtar conceded that he deliberately bowled the beamer to Dhoni, which stemmed out of frustration “I think I had bowled a 8-9 over spell in Faisalabad. It was a quick spell and Dhoni scored a hundred. I purposely bowled a beamer to Dhoni and then apologised to him,” Akhtar told Aakash Chopra on his YouTube channel.
“It was the first time in my life I had bowled a beamer purposely. I shouldn’t have done it. I regretted it a lot. He was playing so well and the wickets were so slow. However fast I was bowling, he kept on hitting. I think I got frustrated.”
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Incidentally, Dhoni scored his maiden ODI and Test tons in his fifth match of each format. Both centuries produced scores of 148 and happened to be against Pakistan.
Akhtar further revealed how he was batting injury issues during the Test series, that saw him take just four wickets in three games. Akhtar explained how his knees had given up around the year 1997 itself and he carried on for the next 10 years with the help of injections.
“The deer type jump gets almost finished after 2-3 years. My knees brought me to my knees. My knees had become useless in 1997. Still I kept fighting and playing, after taking injections regularly,” he added. “I remember when India had come to Pakistan, my left fibula was broken, my landing leg. MS Dhoni had scored a century at Faisalabad. What sort of wickets they had prepared, you know.”