New Delhi: Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar made a controversial remark on October 22 regarding the match between Faisalabad Test match held between India and Pakistan in 2006. Akhtar confessed bowling a “deadly beamer” to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite knowing that it could cause a grave injury to him. During a talk show on Sports Tak, which was held ahead of the much-awaited match of India versus Pakistan on October 24, Akhtar speaking about his cricket career mentioned that once in 2010, he recounted how his teammate suggested bowling a “beamer” to Harbajan Singh on the fourth match of the Asia Cup. Interesting, Singh hit an over-boundary to that ball, smashing Akhtar’s ego. Later, Akhtar continues to narrate that how he deliberately tried to injure Dhoni in the Faisalabad Test match in 2006. He stated, “I had made the same mistake with Dhoni in Faisalabad. I had thrown a beamer at him intentionally. Dhoni is such a nice guy and I respect him. I felt very bad about it. Yes, he is a good player who hit me for a few runs. Why did I decide to attack him (with a beamer)? If the ball would have hit Dhoni, he would have been grievously hurt (do-teen-paanch) in 2005 itself.” Here is the video of the talk show: During the second inning of that historic match, Dhoni secured a huge score of 148 runs on board which includes 19 fours and 4 sixes. No bowlers were spared in front of Dhoni’s mammoth shots, not even Shoaib Akhtar who was given the nickname of “Rawalpindi Express” because of his exceptional bowling speed. The agitated Akhtar decided to throw a “beamer” at the speed of 156 km/hr intentionally despite knowing it to be illegal in the world of cricket. However, Dhoni remained unhurt as he underwent dodge. Here is the video of the particular over where Akhtar is seen confronting MS Dhoni: Besides, Akhtar in the conference also talked about the ‘Two nation theory’ which ultimately led to the genocide of Hindu and the partition of India and Pakistan. The veteran fast-bowler stated, “I will not go deep into it. From the two-nation theory until now, there is a long history. We believe in the two-nation theory, I believe in it. We have an ideology. Ie we start talking about it, then it will go very far.”
