Langer relishes battles with Akhtar

Justin Langer has said that he relishes the edge-of-the-seat duels with Shoaib Akhtar and termed it as "one of the great battles in Test cricket". Langer's comments came after a the two had been involved in a theatrical confrontation, where the umpire had to intervene, on the second day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.

In the last over before tea was a dramatic one: Langer drove through the covers and Akhtar responded with a series of stares and glares and even spat in his direction. Two furious bouncers followed - the second one hit Langer on the forearm and he was visibly in pain as he threw off his glove and armguard. Akhtar rubbed it in with a mocking gesture - feigning pain - before delivering the next ball but he overstepped the crease and was met with an equally taunting Langer with a feisty no-ball signal.

At the end of the day's play, Langer said that he had revelled in the confrontation: "For me that's why you play the game." He went on to liken it to a combat and added, "There was nothing malicious about it. It was like two warriors going at each other. A bloke's bowling at 150kph, trying to rip the fingers off your hand, or even worse. It gets your blood going, the adrenaline pumping, you're in a fight - to me that's what Test cricket is all about."

For any riveting confrontation, both sides have to be equally pumped up and Langer praised Shoaib for playing his part. "For me, it's one of the great battles in Test cricket playing against Shoaib Akhtar," he said. "Today I reckon he bowled as fast as I've seen him bowl in all our confrontations. I've always said he's the fastest bowler I've ever faced and I reckon today, besides an over or two he bowled at the WACA four years ago, it was as quick as I've faced for a long time."