Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he did not get along well with former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden after they got into a heated argument and Hayden called him names such as c-grade actor and a low-grade fast bowler.
Hayden Called Me A C-grade Actor: Akhtar
Akhtar spoke to former cricketer Andrew Flintoff in a Youtube video. He told Flintoff about an incident in the 2003 world cup where Australia met Pakistan in the latter’s first match. He said that on the morning of the match, he and Hayden came almost close to blows before their teammates pulled them away.
He also said Hayden called him a c-grade actor and third-grade bowler without knowing about him much and Akhtar vowed to get Hayden out in that match.
Akhtar recalled, “I got into a fight with Matthew Hayden. The first game of the World Cup. We lost it, I completely lost it. Me and Matthew Hayden never got on really well.”
“He never knew about me. He called me ‘C-grade actor and ‘a low-grade fast bowler’. So I said that ‘Matthew, I am going to get you to the World Cup’. Bad luck, we lost the game, and it was even more bad luck that we got up for breakfast very early in the morning,” he added.
“He and I were standing alone, having breakfast, and had a verbal chat. And we got into a fight. A really, really bad fight. So thank god, they came in and pushed us away,” he said.
“Langer And Hayden Teased Me A Lot”
Akhtar further said he struck the Australian batsman 5 times in a match but he did not move a bit. He also accepted he wasted a lot of energy by bowling quicker balls to Hayden and Langer as they teased him a lot.
“Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer – they used to tease me a lot. They used to ask me to bowl quick, and quick, and quick. I wasted a lot of my energy in Melbourne and Perth Test matches,” he added.
