Watch: Shoaib Akhtar challenges Aussie opener Hayden to hit him for a Six

“This is me Shoaib, against…. Hayden right”

“It is just about to get real again. We’ve had 20 years of it and now we are going at it again. Come On! What’s it?”

“The challenge is if you hit me for a six on mid-on or mid-off”

“Okay. Then I’ll have anything I want in Pakistan”

“So if you lose the bet, then you please start admiring me again”

This was Shoaib Akhtar challenging Matthew Hayden before the 1^st game of the legends All Stars T20 is to be played in the NYC. Shoaib Akhtar plays for the ‘Sachin’s Blasters’ and Hayden for his former team mate’s group, the ‘Warne’s Warriors’. Foes on the field, this will be a much-awaited contest to see who wins and who loses the challenge.

Matthew Hayden wrote about Akhtar in his book Standing My Ground on how he thought Akhtar could deliver a ball at 50°C in Sharjah, 2002. So there was trash talk involved in the mid-field tales like any other match. As Shoaib left the field after 18 deliveries, Hayden raised his arms like he was calling for new gloves. It was a cover to allow him to shout “a massive send-off” to Shoaib Akhtar. He came back later in the first innings to hit Hayden, who was on his way to a century, on the helmet. “Our joust reached a new level of hostility,” Hayden writes.

So tune in at 11:30 IST and watch the first match of the three-match series of Cricket All-Stars T20 which will be played today at Citi Field ground in New York.

Here’s the video which Hayden posted (Via: Matthew Hayden’s Facebook)