Facing Shoaib was like nightmare: Tamim Iqbal

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Bangladeshi ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal while reminiscing the time when he faced Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar said facing the Rawalpindi Express was like a nightmare.

Tamim, the veteran Bangladesh batsman, went down the memory lane and reminisced the time when he faced Shoaib Akhtar. The left-hander, who’s also the Tigers’ all-time leading run-scorer, said that facing the Pakistan speedster was alike a nightmare.

The southpaw put forth his opinions on Facebook Live along with former Bangladesh cricketers, Khaled Mahmud, Naimur Rahman and Habibul Bashar. Tamim was scared to such an extent that one point in time he felt that the Rawalpindi Express would kill him.

“I say this always, I have played a number of fast bowlers, played 150 kmph deliveries as well. But for once I was scared when I faced Akhtar. That day I felt, he would end up killing me. Such scary his bowling was,” Tamim was quoted as saying during the interaction by crictracker.com.

Tamim got the chance to face Shoaib for the first time during a 2007 quadrangular series in Kenya. Back then, he was a teenager and the fast bowler pinned him. Tamim managed one off four balls before spooning a catch off Akhtar to Shahid Afridi in the covers.

The other time when Shoaib and Tamim came face-to-face was in the 2010 Asia Cup. In that match, Tamim scored 34 off 27 balls, but didn’t give Shoaib his wicket after facing his eight balls.

Shoaib’s discussion came to the fore when the four of Tamim, Naimur, Bashar and Mahmud talked about Bangladesh’s Test against Pakistan at Multan back in 2003. Though Shoaib didn’t play the match, in the first two games, he picked up 13 wickets, 10 of which came in the Peshawar Test.

It was the same year when Shoaib recorded the fastest ball ever sent down in cricket at a speed of 161.3 kmph. He achieved the feet in the World Cup and the record is still unscathed, though a number of bowlers have crossed the 160 kmph barrier.

Mahmud, who was a part of the three-match series, talked about his difficulties of picking Akhtar’s thunderbolts. “I have found it hard to make people believe that I couldn’t spot Shoaib’s first delivery,” Mahmud mentioned. It was then that Tamim put forth his views on the bowler.

Shoaib Akhtar had bagged 178, 247 and 19 wickets in 46 Tests, 163 ODIs and 15 Twenty20s, respectively.