Shane Watson's sledging fuelled my aggressive spell, reveals Wahab Riaz
ICC
Wahab Riaz has gone back time to rewind his iconic spell against Shane Watson in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and revealed that it was the latter's sledging that fuelled him. Riaz revealed that Watson made fun of his batting when he was struggling against Mitchell Starc and he was really angry.
In the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, in front of a capacity Adelaide crowd, Pakistani pace bowler Wahab Riaz came up with a sensational bowling performance that will stand the test of time for years to come. Aussies were relentless, getting under their oppositions' skin right from the word go, but thatĀ inadvertently made Wahab more hostile. While 54/2 in nine overs does not paint the right picture, it was Wahab's spell that caused Australia all kinds of trouble at their own den.Ā
Wahab literally bullied Watson and brought him out of his comfort zone, which became the default memory of the match, even though the hosts managed to have the last laugh. Five years on from that day, it still remains one of the most ferocious spells of pace bowling that doesn't have many rivals in the history of World Cup.
Remembering the incidence, Wahab says, "When he came into bat, I settled the score with him. When I was batting Watson just came up to me and said 'are you holding a bat?' and that was going through my mind. IĀ let him know that even he had a bat, but he couldn't touch the ball," reported PTI.
