Laugh off Afridi's claim : Ganguly, Wadekar

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday laughed off Shahid Afridi's remarks that Sachin Tendulkar was uncomfortable against Shoaib Akhtar's pace, a claim which the Pakistani speedster had made in his autobiography 'Controversially Yours'. 

"He (Tendulkar) was scared of Shoaib. I have seen it myself. I was fielding at square leg and saw his legs trembling when Shoaib came on to bowl," Afridi had told reporters in Karachi without elaborating as to which match he was referring to. 

"Afridi is out of his mind," Ganguly said, reacting to the former Pakistani skipper's claim that he has seen Tendulkar "tremble" while facing Shoaib. 

Another former India skipper and former coach of the Indian team, Ajit Wadekar, also dismissed Afridi's claims. 

"I think it is all a result of frustration. He's talking about someone who has scored 99 international hundreds and has got runs all over the world," Wadekar told PTI while reacting to Afridi's comments in Pakistan. 

"The Indian board is doing well, the Indian team is doing very well barring one series (in England). As a country we are doing very well economically. On the other hand they (Pakistan players) can't play much (because of refusal of other countries to tour)," Wadekar said. 

Asked whether Tendulkar should react to Afridi's comments, and the claims made by his Akhtar in his book, Wadekar said "Why should he? Who are these two in front of Tendulkar? They were not in good terms with their own board (PCB). 

"Thank god Don Bradman is not around playing now or even his credentials would have been questioned to get cheap publicity," Wadekar then remarked with a laugh. 

Ganguly, meanwhile, also said that he wasn't surprised at Harbhajan Singh's omission from the Indian squad for the first two ODIs against England, but at the same time, expressed confidence that the off-spinner would be back for India's year-end tour to Australia. 

"He might have been dropped for loss of form. But I am confident that India cannot do without him in the Australia series." 

The star off-spinner had a disappointing first Test against England and a stomach injury in the second Test ruled him out of the remainder of the series. 

Ganguly also ruled out the possibility of him being the captain of Pune Warriors in next year's Indian Premier League T20 tournament. 

"My role will be that of a mentor-cum-player," Ganguly said about Pune Warriors who will not get the services of former coach Geoff Marsh. The former Aussie batsman has been appointed Sri Lankan head coach.