'Would he survive after saying something like that to me' - Shoaib Akhtar miffed at Virender Sehwag’s 'baap baap hota hai' remark

Shoaib Akhtar expressed his unapproval over a news anchor’s reference to the “baap baap hota hai” remark by Virender Sehwag, categorically denying that something like that was ever being said.
 
Shoaib Akhtar and Virender Sehwag?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4
“Would he survive after saying something like that to me?”

The India vs Pakistan rivalries has been glittered with intense contests between the two teams and at times, the one-on-one battles, serving us numerous anecdotes over the years.

One of the most famous ones is the one made by Virender Sehwag featuring himself, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar and the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

As the tale goes, according to Sehwag, who has narrated it on multiple occasions in the past, Akhtar had hurled numerous bouncers at the opener from round the wicket in a Test match, asking the right-hander to go for the pull, if he dared to. Sehwag didn’t, and Akhtar after a while pitched one short to Tendulkar, who promptly hit it for a six.

Sehwag responded with a remark to Akhtar, stating “Baap baap hota hai’.

However, in a pre-show discussion with an Indian journalist before the start of the India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 encounter on Sunday, Akhtar was clearly furious when the tale was brought up, and stated that the incident had never occurred.

Journalist: Woh toh pata hain hume ki Viru ne aapko kaha tha ki 'Baap baap hota he, aur beta, beta'. Uske alawa aise kuch incident jo kisiko na pata ho aur aap aaj expose karte hai?

(We know that Sehwag had made that ‘baap baap hota hai’ comment but can you share any other incident related to an India vs Pakistan match?)

Shoaib Akhtar: First thing, agar yeh cheez usne mere muh pe boli hoti toh woh bachta nahi. Mujhe nahi pata usne kab kaha yeh aur kis waqt kaha. In fact ,maine khud usse ekbar pucha tha ki aise koi statement diya hai ki nahi. Usne seedha bola ‘nahi’. Dusra baat yeh hai, aap jo program kijiye, aap zarur baatein kijiye, bara khusi ka mauka he but kaam qabil e izzat ho. Main sabka izzat karta hu, aap logon ki izzat karta hu. Bohut badi fan following hai India mein. Aur main humesha koshis karta hu ki aise baat na karu jisme do mulk ke beech zyada faasle badhe. 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 achi baat kar sakte hai. I request you. Jis tarah yeh program hota hai woh acha nahi lagta mujhe, wohi cheez baar baar repeat karna.

(If he had said this to my face then it would have been very difficult for him. I don't know when and where he said this. I had even asked him once in Bangladesh whether he said this or not then he had denied it. Secondly, we should celebrate these occasions and talk about cricket rather than doing these. I respect India a lot, I respect you too and I never say such things which may create differences between the two countries.)

Akhtar had earlier dismissed Sehwag’s anecdote during a session on Pakistan new channel RY News two years ago.

“Would he survive after saying something like that to me? Would I leave him? I would beat him up on the ground and then at the hotel. The story has been made up,” Akhtar had said.