Virender Sehwag makes eye-popping claims against Shoaib Akhtar

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has made a sensational claim against former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Talking about the Rawalpindi Express, Sehwag said that he used to jerk his elbow and chuck the ball. He further said that Akhtar was aware of what he was doing.

Speaking on Home of Heroes, Sehwag said that picking the Pakistani bowler was difficult due to his bowling action. "Shoaib knows he used to jerk his elbow; he knew he was chucking too. Why would ICC (International Cricket Council) ban him otherwise? Brett Lee's hand came down straight, so it was easy to pick the ball. But with Shoaib, you could never guess where the hand and the ball will come from," he said.

Adding further he said that he could never trust Shoiab Akhtar's bowling. He said that Akhtar would bowl unexpected beamers or toe-crushing yorkers. "I never feared facing Brett Lee, but with Shoaib, I could not trust what he would do if I hit him twice to the fence. Maybe a beamer or a toe-crushing yorker," Sehwag said.

In the conversation, Sehwag also said that New Zealand's Shane Bond was the toughest bowler he faced. He said that Bond got a lot of movement from the pitch. "His (Bond's) deliveries would come swinging into your body, even if he bowled outside off stump," added the former Indian Captain.

Notably, Sehwag was recognized for his quick and fearless style of play. Speaking about why he approached the game in this style, he said that he had to bat differently in order to make a name for himself in a team that had Sachin, Dravid, Laxman. "Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly all would score their centuries playing 150-200 balls. If I scored hundreds at the same rate, no one would remember me. I had to score runs faster than them to create my identity," he said.

"I always thought that if I stayed till the end of the day, I should score 250 runs, and in that process, I obviously would have to cross 100, 150, 200 and so on. So, there was no pressure in hitting a ball to or over the fence in the nineties because the goal was not to stop at 100," he added.