If there will ever be a book to be written on the entertainers of cricket then no writer will have the audacity to exclude Shahid Afridi and Virender Sehwag from it. Arguably two of the finest entertainers the game has seen, the duo shared an intense rivalry during their playing time but always had a great mutual respect for each other.

An India-Pakistan match without an entertaining duel between these two was always considered to be incomplete during their hay days. Such was the aura they carried and even after their retirement, things haven’t changed. They still gather an immense amount of respect and admiration from fans beyond the boundaries.

In an interview with The Quint, they recalled the best moments of their career. Virender Sehwag remembered the two Indo-Pak games played in the 2007 World T20 final and the 2011 World Cup semifinal. He explained how pressurizing it was to take on them in these two games.

ALSO READ: Virender Sehwag Trolls Pakistan Cricketers

Recollecting the same, Sehwag said, “For us, there was two – 2007 World T20 and 2011 World Cup. In 2007, we had a really young team and no one had expected us to do well or win, that too in South Africa. And 2011, because before India, no other host nation had won the World Cup.”

The second edition of the World T20 was pretty important for the eventual winners Pakistan for numerous reasons. This was the first time they were participating in an ICC tournament after the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and facing the same team in the final made it more difficult for them.

Afridi recollected how important that win was for him and the country as Pakistan’s national side was in shambles at that point. He said, “2009 World T20 was memorable for us because of the Sri Lanka incident that had happened and Pakistan cricket was struggling. That win was important to lift the spirits of our nation.”