Shoaib Akhtar reflects on phone conversation he had with Lata Mangeshkar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has recalled his memories of being on the verge of meeting the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar while he was in Mumbai after the latter’s recent demise. Lata Mangeshkar’s mortal remains were consigned to flames in a public funeral with full state honors, held at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Sunday evening. Popularly called the Nightingale of India, Mangeshkar had won several prestigious awards in her career.

She is considered to be one of the greatest playback singers and has won numerous awards including Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Dada Saheb Phalke Award, and multiple National Film Awards. The whole country was indeed shattered on February six with the news and a lot of famous actors had arrived for the funeral to pay respect to one of the most respected women in the nation.

I am also a big fan of Lata Ji: Shoaib Akhtar

Akhtar who recently took part in the inaugural edition of the Legends League Cricket 2022, had revealed the conversation with Mangeshkar and noted how he came so close in meeting her. He regretted not being able to meet her despite being in Mumbai in 2016 and revealed the phone conversations where the fast bowler was asked to call Mangeshkar as ‘mother’.

“I had come to India in the year 2016 in connection with some work. I am also a big fan of Lata ji. Since I was in Mumbai, we connected. She spoke to me very lovingly.” Shoaib Akhtar told on his Youtube Channel

“When I addressed her as ‘Lata ji’, she asked me to call her ‘mom’. I asked about her health, her whereabouts, and all things in between, after which she told me – ‘Son, I really look forward to meeting you. I have seen many matches between you and Sachin. I like cricket a lot. You are a very aggressive player and also famous for your anger, but along with that, you seem to have a clean heart. Never change, always be like this,” he added

He went on to note how Mangeshkar was so kind in loving the battle between Akthar and  Sachin Tendulkar in their prime and clarified him as a clean-hearted person despite his on-field anger. Akhtar has clocked the fastest delivery in the game so far with a 161.3 Kmph delivery and no other cricketer has been able to break it still.