Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was on Sunday left furious during a pre-show discussion with an Indian journalist before the start of the blockbuster Asia Cup 2022 game between India and Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium. Akhtar was queried on the famous ‘Baap baap hota he’ remark which former India cricketer Virender Sehwag had made during one of the India-Pakistan matches. Denying that Sehwag had ever made any such statement, Akhtar was left fuming at the journalist for repeating the same question and trying to provoke him through these incidents.
Sehwag, in an interview back in 2010, had admitted that he did make this statement after Sachin Tendulkar had smashed Akhtar for a six during one of the India-Pakistan matches. The journalist, reminding the Pakistan legend if the same, asked him to recall a similar incident which he has never spoken of before.
Akhtar revealed that he had once asked Sehwag whether he had made this statement and the India great had denied it. He further admitted that he did not like the question and rather urged the journalist to focus on cricket rather than talk about such incidents. Here is how the conversation unfolded…
Journalist: Woh toh pata hain hume ki Viru ne aapko kaha tha ki ‘Baap baap hota he, aur beta, beta’. Uske elava aise kuch incident jo kisiko na pata ho aur aap aaj bara exposé karte he?
Shoaib Akhtar: First thing, agar yeh cheez usne mere muh pe boli hoti toh woh bachta nehi. Mujhe nehi pata usne kab kaha yeh aur kis waqt kaha. In fact maine khud usse ekbar oucha tha ki aise koi statement di he ki nehi. Usne seedha bola nehi. Dusra baat yeh he, aap jo program kijiye, aap zaruru baatein kijiye, bara khusi ka mauka he but kaam qabil e izzat ho. Main sabka izzat karto, aap logon ke izzat karta hu. Bohot baare fan following he India me. Aur me humesha koshis karta hu ki aise baat na karu jisme do mulk ke beech zyada faasle na bare, balki kam ho. And I’m not liking this one bit. I’m being very honest with you. Usne yeh kaha, usne yeh kaha. Let’s come back to cricket. Bohot si ache baat kar sakte he. I request you. Jis tarah yeh program hota he woh ache nehi lagta mujhe, wohi cheez baar baar repeat karna.
This isn’t the first time Akhtar has denied that Sehwag ever made that statement. Two year back, in an interview on Pakistani news channel ARY News, the veteran cricketer had responded in a similar manner saying, “Would he survive after saying something like that to me? Would I leave him? I would beat him up at the ground and then at the hotel. The story has been made up.”
