Despite the arch-rivalry, the mutual respect that Indian and Pakistan cricketers have for each other often comes to the fore. Their rivalries aside, the cricketers from both sides often praise each other. Once Virat Kohli said how fearsome it must have been to face Shoaib Akhtar in his heydays. The latter, on his part, often praised the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag for their fearless batting. Recently, at an event, Shoaib Akhtar met viral Dolly Chaiwala, a tea seller from Nagpur whose real name is Sunil Patil. The two had a fun-filled interaction.      

“Dolly have seen my matches?” Shoaib Akhtar tells Dolly. 

“Yes, I have seen many of your matches,” came the reply. 

“Did you have fun?” Akhtar asked again. 

“Yes sir. You are such a fast bowler, it seemed you are not bowling, but you are throwing the ball at somebody,” Dolly replied.   

“When I dismissed Sachin Tendulkar, did you feel bad?” Akhtar asked. 

“What can I do, It’s Sachin,” Dolly replied.

Ran into Dolly Chaiwala at the stadium. What a lovely character with an inspiring story pic.twitter.com/W7lJ1Usefc

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) January 31, 2025

Shoaib Akhtar believes that Kohli will be back in form during the match against the Asian neighbour. He recalled Kohli’s famous Melbourne knock from 2022 T20 World Cup that the star batter played against Pakistan. “If you want to wake Virat Kohli up, tell him that there is a match against Pakistan. He will wake up. We have seen it often. He played a top knock in Melbourne. He will get up and running,” Akhtar told Aaj Tak.

Akhtar hopes for an evenly fought contest between India and Pakistan.

“India is a strong side. I would love to see Rohit, Kohli, Jasprit and all these guys to go out and perform their best, but I really want Pakistan to win.

“Imagine Virat Kohli scoring runs for India, Babar Azam scoring for Pakistan, Shaheen and Naseem bowling well for Pakistan, Jasprit Bumrah firing for India,” he said.