Neither Sachin, Nor Lara; 'This' Indian Cricketer is the Toughest Opponent for Shoaib Akhtar

Akhtar lavished praise on Balaji [Twitter]

Former Pakistan seamer, Shoaib Akhtar, has named the batter he feared the most. Interestingly, it's not Sachin Tendulkar or any other top-order batter, but pace bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Shoaib Akhtar is a respected pacer of his time and the Batters used to fear of getting hit while facing him. During his time, the speedster bowled against best of the best batters in the world, which included the likes of  Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, and Ricky Ponting.  

However, when asked about the batter he feared to bowl against, he took Balaji's name.

In a recent YouTube chat with Sorabh Pant,The Rawalpindi Expresss shared how threatened he used to feel bowling against former Indian seamer. 

Here's what Akhtar said:

" Balaji (Lakshmipathy) used to be my biggest opponent. He used to hate me like anything, I was all over the place man. I could not get him out." 

Historically, Balaji didnt serve a happy memory for Akhtar, specially during India's historic tour of Pakistan in 2004.

 Balaji was heavy on Pakistan with his batting. In the ODI series he faced 28 balls scoring 45 runs in just three innings at a strike rate of 160. It did hurt Shoaib more so because it came from the bat of a tailender. Against Shoaib, Balaji had struck three boundaries in total. He was a firm striker of the ball who relied more on timing than muscle power.

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