New Delhi: Former Pakistan speed demon Shoaib Akhtar believes that if he was still around and playing cricket today, he would have shared a very interesting bond with Virat Kohli, being both friends and enemies with the Indian skipper.

Akhtar who terrorised the best with the willow during his peak in the late 90s and the first decade of the new millenium expressed his delight over his and Kohli's common ethnicity stating that both he and Virat were Punjabis with a big heart.

"We are both Punjabis with a big heart. We would have been best of friends off-field and fierce enemies on-field," Akhtar said while speaking in the latest episode of ESPNcricinfo Videocast.

"With Virat if you fight, he gets more focused. So to bowl him out, I would try to get him to lose focus. I would try to get into his head. At my extreme pace, I would have instigated him to pull me or play a cut because he doesn't have these two shots.

"I know he loves to drive, so again at my extreme pace, I would get him to drive and would have kept talking to him in between. Something like what (James)Anderson did to him in England," he added.

Making a point on the batsmen he would find difficult to bowl out, the 'Rawalpindi Express' said: "To be honest, it's Inzamam-ul-Haq. See my action is very complicated unlike Bret Lee's but I could not bowl him out even once in the nets in 10 years. I think he could read the ball a second faster than others."

Akhtar also expressed his admiration and respect for a few other world class batters like Martin Crowe and Rahul Dravid. "I think Martin Crowe would have played me well too. He was a magician and very elegant. Among Indian players, Rahul Dravid is the most decorated batsman. If he won't offer me a shot, I would not be able to penetrate his defense. I also think Jacques Kallis is one of the best all-rounders, and slip fielders cricket has ever produced."

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag was among the few batsmen who could play Akhtar as ease. Clarifying, Akhtar said: "I bowled him short initially when I should have bowled the ball that's going away from him. After I figured him, he could not score much against me. I bowled him out on multiple occasions, including at the IPL and in Lahore in."