When cricket knows no Borders: Inzamam’s special delivery to Sehwag

In India-Pakistan matches, Sehwag, the former Indian opener often found himself as the epicenter of attention during these electrifying contests renowned for his fearless, attacking approach,. Whenever he couldn’t hit boundaries or sixes continuously in four or five overs, he would get frustrated. Once, Sehwag found himself helpless against Danish Kaneria. Danish had consistently bowled him on his leg side, leaving Sehwag struggling to find his rhythm. This went on for five overs. Sehwag couldn’t take it anymore. He called the then Pakistani captain and said, “Inzi bhai, please call the long-on fielder to mid-on.” Inzamam asked for the reason, and Sehwag replied, “I want to hit a six. Just call him forward for one ball, and then you can send him back.” Inzamam, with a smile, accepted Sehwag’s request and called the long-on fielder to mid-on. Danish bowled the next ball, a googly, and Sehwag smashed it for a six over mid-on. This made Danish furious, and Inzamam was quite unhappy with Danish’s reaction. Inzamam sent Danish back to his original bowling mark, telling him to do what he was instructed to do. So, Sehwag’s clever move resulted in a six, but it also caused some tension between Danish Kaneria and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Sehwag also revealed that he used to fulfill the requests of singing songs in the middle of the pitch for Pakistani players from time to time. He mentioned that he was one of the close-too fielders and often indulged in light-hearted banter with Pakistani fielders. They often request Sehwag to sing song for them of legendary singers like Mohammad Rafi and Kishor Kumar. Due to his willingness to fulfill their song requests, Sehwag became quite popular among the Pakistani team members. Sehwag shared that he was always eager to hit sixes against Pakistan. He recounted an incident during a Test match in Multan when Akash Chopra and Rahul Dravid got out early. Sachin Tendulkar had told him in no uncertain terms that if he attempted to hit a six, Tendulkar would personally reprimand him. Essentially, Tendulkar meant that they couldn’t afford to lose a wicket at that point. However, Sehwag responded by saying that he would agree to Tendulkar’s request but if Saqlain Mushtaq came to bowl the next over, he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself. When he reached to his 295 score Saqlain Mushtaq came to bowl the next over and as he promises Sachin he went for six to complete his triple century. Sachin embraced him warmly after the achievement, and this story received a standing ovation from Sunil Gavaskar when Sehwag shared it on the Kapil Sharma show. Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam-ul-Haq were also very good friends. Once, on Sourav Ganguly’s request, Inzamam brought four cricket balls for him from Sialkot. Similarly, whenever Inzamam played a match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, his meals would come from Ganguly’s house. Javed Miandad also recalled that during the 1980s, they used to celebrate Holi with Indian players. A similar incident occurred in Bangalore. At that time, they were staying in the same hotel and applying coloured powder to each other during the festival. Ravi Shastri was hiding in his room, so they dragged him out and tossed him into the swimming pool. Miandad mentioned that in the evenings, they often used to visit the rooms of Indian team players, and sometimes, Indian players would come to their rooms as well. During these interactions, there was a lot of laughter and banter.