The “fact” about Sachin Tendulkar’s sixes against Wasim Akram that has been doing rounds on social media is... not a fact.
You might have come across the “fact” on one of the many social media platforms. Or you will, at some point, given the legendary stature of its subjects. According to the forward, Wasim had been hit for 12 sixes across the 356 ODIs he had played. Of these, Tendulkar had hit nine. One can see why the “fact” attained virality.
This post, for example, has over 36,000 likes:
One aspect that makes these “facts” difficult to check is Wasim’s career. Wasim played ODIs from 1984-85 to 2002-03. Ball-by-ball data was available only for the last few years of his careers. In fact, the ESPNcricinfo ball-by-ball database covers only 68 of his 356-match (about a fifth) ODI career.
Across these matches, Wasim conceded 14 sixes – two more than the share claims for his entire career. None of these was against India. Tendulkar faced 106 balls across these matches but did not hit a single six (though he hit four fours).
While this disproves the claim, it is important to note how many sixes Tendulkar might have hit off Wasim. In all, Tendulkar hit 195 sixes in ODIs, but only 29 of these were against Pakistan. Of these, 10 were in matches involving Wasim.
Of these, several have been accounted for. When he smashed 49 in 38 balls at Sharjah in the Wills Trophy of 1991, his two sixes included an inside-out shot over extra-cover off Sohail (who was bowling with a head-band) and an on-drive off Akram Raza.
Of his three sixes during his run-a-ball 89 not out at Toronto in 1997, two were lofted drives off Sohail and one a majestic flick off Waqar Younis. In the decider of that series, he hit one more, over mid-wicket off Saqlain Mushtaq.
And he famously uppercut Shoaib Akhtar for one of these at Centurion in the 2003 World Cup.
That leaves only three sixes, all of which he hit in an 1994 Austral-Asia Cup match at Sharjah. The second of these was off Ata-ur-Rehman and the third off Raza, but the first – a Tendulkar special – was indeed off Wasim.
The legends faced off 24 times in ODIs, between 1989-90 and 2002-03 – but this remained the only six Tendulkar hit off Wasim in ODIs.
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