It was the Faisalabad Test of India’s tour to Pakistan in 2006, and Pathan had joined Dhoni, playing just his fifth Test, in the middle after Sachin Tendulkar’s departure. India were 281-5 at that point, still over 300 runs behind Pakistan’s first-innings 588, and in desperate need of a partnership to steady the ship.

One of the big challenges for the duo was Akhtar, who could clock speeds of over 150kph consistently.

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“When I was coming out to bat, Akhtar was bowling at a rapid pace of 150-160 kph,” Pathan told Sports Tak. “I went down and joined Dhoni and asked how’s the pitch is behaving, he responded by saying, ‘nothing much, you just bat’.

“I faced Akhtar’s first ball, and it was a bouncer … couldn’t even see the ball. Somehow we tried to negate his spell. We tried building our partnership and after sometime, Akhtar again came for a new spell.

“Akhtar was sledging. I told Dhoni, ‘I will sledge Akhtar and you just laugh at him’. Dhoni agreed to it. Akhtar continued sledging us, and the ball started to reverse.

“That was the time, I sledged Akhtar saying, ‘Will you be able to bowl with the same intensity in the next spell?’. Akhtar responded angrily, saying, ‘you talk too much’. He somehow completed that spell and that was how we drew that Test.”

The duo would go on to add 210 runs for the sixth wicket and rescue India. Dhoni scored his first-ever Test ton, and ended up scoring 148, while Pathan supported him ably during the course of his 90 as India took a slim first-innings lead. The match finished in a draw.