Mohammad Kaif recalls Sachin Tendulkar's iconic six off Akhtar in World Cup 2003

Mohammad Kaif recalled Sachin Tendulkar's iconic six off the tearaway fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar when the arch-rivals India and Pakistan had locked horns in the group stage match of the 2003 World Cup. The Men In Blue kept their winning streak in World Cups intact over their arch-rivals as they registered their fourth straight win in the quadrennial event.

Sachin had hit Shoaib for 18 runs in his first over and in the same over, he had slashed the 'Rawalpindi Express'  for a six over backward point which is etched in the memories of the die-hard cricket fans even today.

'The iconic shot': Mohammad Kaif

“The six over point, the iconic shot that is shown, again and again, is a shot he never plays. Very rarely have we seen him playing that shot. I have seen him punch the ball or hitting shots on the rise but that uppercut, with his heavy bat playing against a bowler who is bowling at over 150 kph is a very difficult shot,”  said Kaif while speaking on Star Sports’ 'Watch Along' episode.

“The six he hit of Shoaib Akhtar over point and the flick after that to fine-leg for a boundary. That is Sachin’s strength that he never gets LBW, he never missed the ball. That is why he was such a great batsman because the bowler has that weapon to bring the ball in and get the batsman bowled or LBW, that happened to Sachin very few times in his career,” the former middle-order batsman added.

When India registered a famous win at Centurion

Waqar Younis had led the 1992 World Cup winners during the 2003 edition of the showpiece event that was played in South Africa. Both he and Wasim Akram were well past their prime by then and did not have a good campaign either as they were knocked out in the pool stages.

India and Pakistan had locked horns on March 1, 2003, at the Supersport Park in Centurion where the Men In Green had set India a stiff target of 274 runs. However, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag smashed the Pak bowlers to all corners of the ground and seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the proceedings. But, Waqar brought Pakistan right back into the contest by accounting for Sehwag and skipper Sourav Ganguly off successive deliveries. Sachin and Kaif kept the scoreboard ticking.

Unfortunately, Tendulkar was done by an awkward bouncer from Shoaib Akhtar and was caught at point for a well-made 98. It could have been anyone's match from thereon but, stellar middle-order contributions from Rahul Dravid (44*) and Yuvraj Singh (50*) helped the eventual runners-up of that tournament pull off a famous win by six wickets. 

Ganguly & Co. had an outstanding campaign as they made it to the finals. However, they were defeated by the then mighty Australians who were also the title-holders back then in a lop-sided contest.

READ: Waqar Younis Reveals Why India Always Had An Upper Hand Over Pakistan In World Cups