Sachin Tendulkar was scared of facing Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Ajmal: Shahid Afridi is back with more bizarre claims

Former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi has once again made the headlines with yet another absurd claim after the ex-skipper said that Sachin Tendulkar was scared of facing Shoaib Akhtar.

The 40-year-old also added that even though Sachin won't accept the fact that he was scared at the prospect of facing Akhtar, he himself witnessed the now-former Indian batsman struggle against the 'Rawalpindi Express'.

"Dekhiye Sachin Tendulkar aapne muh se toh nahi kahega ki main dar raha hu. (Sachin obviously won’t say it himself that ‘I’m scared’) There were some spells from Shoaib Akhtar in which not only Sachin but some of the world’s best also got shaken up," he said.

"When you are fielding at mid-off or covers, you can see it. You can sense the body language of a player. You can easily understand that a batsman is under pressure, he is not at his usual best."

"I’m not saying that Shoaib has scared Tendulkar always but there have been some spells from Shoaib that have pushed some of the world’s best including Tendulkar on to the backfoot," Afridi told Zainab Abbas when he asked about his 9-year-old statement that Tendulkar was scared of facing Akhtar.

Back in 2011, Shoaib Akhtar had claimed in his book 'Controversially Yours' that the Master Blaster was scared to face him and Afridi had backed his teammate's claim.  

"He (Tendulkar) was scared of Shoaib. I have seen it myself. I was fielding at square leg and saw his legs trembling when Shoaib came on to bowl."

The former PAK allrounder further added that Tendulkar was scared of facing Saeed Ajmal too during the World Cup.

"It’s not a big deal, players do feel the pressure at times and it becomes difficult," Afridi.