Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is quite outspoken in nature. He never shies away from speaking his mind and his opinions often spark an outrage on social media.
Fondly known as the Rawalpindi Express, Akhtar recently expressed his reservations against the mannerism of modern-day pacers.
While Akhtar admires the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Jasprit Bumrah and Mark Wood, he believes that hostile element is missing in them.
“Badtameezi missing hai (The misbehavior is missing). Even I was bowling at 135kph, but the curses will only be given at 145kph. That is missing,” Shoaib said on Sorabh Pant’s YouTube channel.
“Come on, hit someone here and there. What will happen? You’ll only get fined, right? What then? The batters keep hitting you, why? It’s stupid. Give a rugby tackle. I wouldn’t mind that boss. Just have a little bit of flair in cricket. Every sport in the world has fights. In a decent way. What do you think happens in Ice Hockey? What happens in football? Don’t they headbutt, punch? What kind of rule have you made, ‘Oh, we can’t cuss. We have to appeal whilst looking at the umpire.’ Are you playing gestures or cricket here?” he added.
Shoaib Akhtar also recalled an incident from his playing days when he and former Australia opener Matthew Hayden picked up a fight on the breakfast table ahead of their game.
“Me and Matthew Hayden, once picked a knife and a fork at breakfast against each other. Both willing to beat each other up. Thank god my trainer intervened, otherwise Hayden would’ve made a chutney out of me,” he said with a quiet laughter.
Nonetheless, Akhtar showered rich praise on the modern-day fast bowlers for their craft.
“I like Shaheen and Naseem (Shah). (Mohammad) Amir was very good. Bumrah was very good,” he stated. “When I look at these people, I assess them whether they are injury prone or not. Will they sustain or not. I look at a lot of things. Such as in Mark Wood’s follow through, he collapses, which is why he loses pace. He needs to hold his follow through. But he’s a very exciting talent. So is Chris Woakes. He literally balanced the Ashes in favor of England. Ye jaandaar log hai (They are daring).”
Shoaib Akhtar also shared his thoughts on India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who made a comeback to international cricket last month after a long injury lay-off.
“Bumrah jaandaar tha (Bumrah was daring). But with that run up it was always going to be difficult to sustain. I had predicted this from day one that he will face problems. He played his heart out. This is the best thing that I like about him,” he opined.
