Mumbai, Oct 28 (IANS) Former cricketer Virender Sehwag, who hosts the streaming reality show ‘Rise & Fall’, has revealed what went down behind his first encounter with the pace legend Shoaib Akhtar in his 1st match.
In the latest episode of the show, Virender Sehwag drew from his own life to call out Gautam Gulati and Manish Kashyap’s escalating feud. From growing up in Najafgarh, an area known for its gangster headlines, to facing Shoaib Akhtar on the cricket field, Sehwag shared personal anecdotes from his journey, reinforcing his belief in letting performance speak louder than provocation: let the bat do the talking.
He recollected how Shoaib Akhtar rained down bullets of sledging on him as he walked with him to the crease.
He said, “1999 mein pehle match khel raha tha mein 20 saal ka ladka tha aur ground mein jab maine kadam rakha toh Shoaib Akhtar mujhe gaali deta hua leke gaya crease tak cchod ke aaya (In 1999, I was playing my first match, I was a 20-year-old boy, and when I stepped onto the ground, Shoaib Akhtar took me to the crease while cursing at me)”.
Rather than retaliating, Sehwag channelled that experience into his game. He shared, “Lekin mujhe yeh laga ke agar mein dobaara Pakistan ke khilaf khela toh mein inki aisi pitai karunga ke mujhe gaali nahi dene paade toh maine 309 run banaye, toh mere balle ne saari talking ki (But I felt that if I played against Pakistan again, I would beat them so badly that they wouldn’t have to curse me, so I scored 309 runs, and my bat did all the talking)”.
As Gautam and Manish’s argument reignites during Power Play, Sehwag questions the threats and language being thrown around, asking Manish what drove him to say “goli chal jaayegi”.
Drawing from his own roots, Sehwag said “Aapko pata hai main kaha se aata hoon? Main Delhi mein ek chhota sa kasba hai uska naam hai Najafgarh. Najafgarh famous pata hai kiske liye hai, Najafgarh mein lakhbag 100 gaon hai jinke 100 gaon mein 50 gaon mein sirf gangsters hain. Agar aap purane headline uthake dekhoge toh headline aati hi aaj Najafgarh mein is gangster ne uss gangster ko maar diya lekin mere career mein kisine suna mere mooh se ke mein kaha se aata hoon, maine kabhi kaha ke mein iss ilake se aata hu waha goliyan chalti hai (Do you know where I come from? There is a small town in Delhi called Najafgarh. Najafgarh is famous, you know, for whom? There are about 100 villages in Najafgarh, out of which 50 villages are inhabited only by gangsters. If you look at old headlines, they say things like “Today in Najafgarh, this gangster killed that gangster,” but in my entire career, no one has ever heard me say where I come from, nor have I ever said that I come from an area where bullets fly)”.
Produced by Banijay Asia, ‘Rise and Fall’ season 2 streams on Prime Video.
–IANS
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