Naved-ul-Hasan remembers slapping Virender Sehwag. Naved-ul-Hasan remembers taking out Sehwag in an ODI in Visakhapatnam in 2005 by slapping him.
One of the most aggressive batters of his era was Virender Sehwag. Prior to their ability to respond, he used to assault the opposing bowlers and put them on the back foot. Pakistan was one of his favorite opponents because the Delhi hitter had some of his best performances there, including his first Test triple-century.
India welcomed their bitter rivals for a six-match ODI series back in 2005. Sehwag had a wild day as he smashed a scorching half-century in the second ODI in Visakhapatnam. Naved-Ul-Hasan, a former cricketer for Pakistan who was a regular in the bowling attack, removed the destructive right-hander for 74 runs off of 40 balls.
In a recent interview, Naved-ul-Hasan on how he slammed Sehwag and forced him to play a fake shot.
“We were competing against India. Sehwag had 85 on the board. A century was made by Shahid Afridi in that same series. India had already won the first two games of the best-of-five ODI series, and we were behind 0-2. Sehwag dominated the third game against us. Sehwag had hit Afridi for a few sixes after India had nearly reached 300 runs. He was beating everyone to a pulp. So I approached Inzamam and requested an over. On the Nadir Ali podcast, he remarked, ” He said, ‘Sure… everybody is getting struck, you give it a shot if you want.
“My first delivery was a slower bouncer that Sehwag failed to connect with. ‘You don’t know how to play,’ I told him as I approached. I’m not even… I don’t believe you would have ever joined the international team if you had been in Pakistan. He responded to me with a few words, but I was able to prick him. On the way home, I informed Inzi bhai. “Next ball, he’s out,” was the statement. An enraged Sehwag attempted to smash a slower ball I bowled from the back of the hand but failed. We were able to win that game thanks to the wicket.
It’s interesting to notice that Naved’s account is not totally accurate. In spite of dismissing a Sehwag who was in good form, MS Dhoni led India to 356/9 while batting first as Pakistan lost by a score of 58 runs. The away team, however, changed their luck after this game and triumphed in the following four games to win the series 4-2.