From their bhai-valry to off-field antics, Shoaib Akhtar, Virender Sehwag make some interesting revelations

Glance LIVE Fest (GLF), India’s largest digital carnival of live and interactive experiences that brings to 70 million users’ premium live content from some of India’s biggest celebrities and creators across entertainment, gaming, and shopping, started on a wonderful note. During this three-day carnival, cricket writer and commentator Vikram Sathaye hosted a chat show, Pitch-Ed Battles, where cricketers famous for their rivalries would come together for a candid conversation. This chat show was kicked off by two very popular former cricketers Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar.

While both the cricketers are known for their on-field rivalry, they revealed during Glance Live Fest that they have a lot of respect for each other. They talked about incidents where they supported each other, even though they were on opposing teams. In fact, Shoaib Akhtar revealed how he once saw Virender Sehwag upset during a particular series wherein he was about to be dropped from a match, but Akhtar consoled him and said that dropping Sehwag from the match would be a big mistake by the Indian team. His words truly touched him, and the cricketers mentioned that this was one of the many ‘bhai-valry’ moments which they have shared across their careers.

Shoaib Akhtar described Virender Sehwag as a destructive force

The host, Vikram Sathaye, also gave them the challenge to make a pitch for each other in thirty seconds or less. Shoaib Akhtar described Virender Sehwag as a destructive force who always ensured the scoreboard was on top, while Virender Sehwag said that there has been nobody like Shoaib Akhtar who has come before and nobody like him will come again.

The duo also made some interesting revelations like why Sehwag decided to drop the number 44 from his jersey after being persuaded by his mother and wife that it was an unlucky number and how Shoaib got the name Rawalpindi Express due to his high-speed deliveries which were similar to the speed of the fastest train in Pakistan.

Virender Sehwag also went on to reveal how he would listen to his favourite song, Chala Jata Hoon by Kishore Kumar, in the dressing room during every match along with similar songs from the same era and also used to sing songs on the pitch at times, even while batting! On the other hand, Akhtar revealed that he worked on his autobiography for a long time, and it was titled ‘Controversially Yours’ due to the nature of publicity that always followed him.

We saw several fun and candid moments between these fierce rivals during the chat show. All in all, this episode of Pitch-Ed Battles was full of fun memories, interesting anecdotes and beautifully showcased the bhai-valry of Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar.