Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has claimed he got a £175,000 offer from Nottinghamshire to play for them, but he declined it for his country.
Akhtar said he wanted to fight for his country in the Kargil War and the cricketer was willing to die for the nation. The war between India and Pakistan took place between May and July 1999.
“I had a 175,000-pound contract with Nottingham. Then in 2002, I had another big contract. I left both when Kargil happened,” Akhtar was quoted as saying by ARY News.
“I stood on the outskirts of Lahore. A general asked me what I’m doing there. I said war is about to start and we’ll die together. I left county [cricket] twice like this and the counties were shocked. I wasn’t concerned about that. I called up my friends in Kashmir and told them I am ready to fight.
“When the planes (from India) came and downed some of our trees, that was a big loss for us. They dropped 6-7 trees and we are really putting a lot of focus on trees now. I was very hurt about this. I was feeling dizzy when I woke up that day and my wife told me to calm down. But until the next day when I saw the news, that continued. I know the inside story of what happened on the next day, I’m from Rawalpindi and I know GHQ.”
Akhtar had started to play for Pakistan from 1997 and he was part of the 1999 Cricket World Cup.
