April 26, 1999
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PAKISTAN FAST BOWLER SHOAIB
AKHTAR Enfant Terrible A gifted yet erratic team has had its World Cup chances bolstered by the arrival of a bowler who is frighteningly fast, aggressive but also indisciplined. By Abdul Waheed Khan
Nothing is certain and tomorrow things could go wrong for Pakistan. No one man is responsible for this turnaround in form, but it is ironic that a young bowler with a dismal disciplinary record but a huge heart has at least helped Pakistan cross the line from defeat to victory. Genuine tearaways are common in today's cricketing world. But a tearaway who has the precision of a smart bomb, a Stealth-like ability to hide the slower one and searing toe-crunching swingers that like heat-seeking missiles invariably find the target is rare. Shoaib Akhtar is one such man. So impressed are cricketing pundits with this young man, just a year into his international career, that they are calling him Pakistan's key to winning the World Cup. Says South African batting maestro and cricket commentator Barry Richards: "He will be the difference between all the participating teams." Though Akhtar is quickly attaining star status, little is known of him. He was born and brought up in Rawalpindi (most cricketers in Pakistan come from Lahore or Karachi) and emerged on the domestic first-class scene three years ago. He made a mark instantly with his raw speed and competitive nature. But there was another side to him that many hadn't reckoned with. Well-known Test cricketer Zaheer Abbas was the first to find out. In 1997, impressed by Akhtar, Abbas (the team manager) signed him on as a contractual employee with Pakistan International Airlines. But within a month Akhtar quietly slipped away and joined the Agricultural Development Bank team, which has its headquarters in Rawalpindi. Later, much to Akhtar's dismay, Abbas became a national selector. Abbas was irritated but even his ire couldn't prevent Akhtar from being picked up for the Pakistan A team which toured England in the summer of 1997. Akhtar performed with fire, picking wickets at will and quickly earning a contract to play league cricket in Dublin. However, problems surfaced because of his off-field antics. The manager's report for that tour states that Akhtar would often flout curfew hours, reaching the hotel late at night. One night, after a drinking binge, he and his roommate Fazl-e-Akber even managed to burn the carpet in their hotel room. This incident was to make him lose his place in the national team which was to tour Toronto for the 1997 Sahara Cup. Though the selectors picked him, the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to discipline him by dropping him from the team. Trouble and Akhtar seem to go hand-in-hand. Picked for the South Africa tour in early 1998, his late-night partying got him into more trouble. So infuriated was the then Pakistan captain Rashid Latif that he decided to send Akhtar back instead of taking him to Zimbabwe, the second leg of the tour. Akhtar, on learning of this, burst into tears and rushed to manager Asad Aziz pleading for a second chance. A truce was brokered by Aziz and Aamir Sohail, then vice-captain, who convinced Latif to forgive the youngster. He repaid that faith. For the world at large, especially India, Akhtar seemed to announce his arrival by blasting out Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar with scorching inswinging yorkers in the Asian Test Championship match in Calcutta earlier this year. His hostile pace and naked aggression immediately won him comparisons with Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee, but the truth is Akhtar actually made his mark a year earlier at the Durban Test. His five wicket haul, at times touching 154 kmph, led Pakistan to a deserving win. Sohail, in fact, had so much confidence in his protege that he had banked more on Akhtar winning the Test for him than even Waqar Younis. Later, Sohail even tried to take Akhtar to Toronto for the 1998 Sahara Cup, but the selectors had already chosen him for the Commonwealth Games squad. Akhtar himself was thrilled to be in Kuala Lumpur, and as usual was brimming with aggression. His Pindi teammate Asif Mehmood recalls that once coach Mohsin Khan tried to pull Akhtar's leg by pointing towards Tendulkar and telling him that the Pakistani selectors had sent him to learn a lesson or two from the Indian batting maestro. Pat came the Akhtar's reply: "If we play India here, I will teach him a lesson or two about what fast bowling is all about." It is important to mention Sohail because it has become a bit of a joke to hear that the real influence in Akhtar's life is Wasim Akram. Far from the truth. In fact, in 1997, when the selectors picked Akhtar for his debut Test against the West Indies in his hometown Pindi, captain Akram was not pleased. Indeed, after the first day's play, when local journalists asked Akram why he was underbowling Akhtar, an unseemly fracas broke out. Now the same Akram proudly puts his arms around Akhtar every time the youngster walks to his longish run-up and claims in public that he is Pakistan's winning weapon. Since his debut Akhtar has only improved with each passing day, bowling at a consistent speed of 150-152 kmph. His biggest asset has been his ability to bowl at the same fearsome pace and accuracy even in the one-day games. In the last seven one-dayers played by Pakistan he has been so effective in the first 10 overs that victories have come much easier. For instance, Saurav Ganguly, whose rib cage has become a prime candidate, is just not the same batsman against him. With Younis back in the team for the World Cup, cricket connoisseurs would be waiting in anticipation to see how the three great fast bowlers perform in tandem. Clearly, Shoaib Akhtar has a bright future ahead of him. What he has to guard against is only his aggressive nature which threatens to boil over on the pitch. He is potentially a great fast bowler with a reputation of being the enfant terrible of Pakistan cricket. He needs to choose what he wants to be. |
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It is a team
that defies definition, evokes powerful reactions and sends critics scuttling for cover in
confusion. Everybody said Pakistan cricket was riven with dissension and would
disintegrate under the glare of the match-fixing charges. Today, players leap into each
other's arms and display a camaraderie that is a joy to behold. Everybody said Pakistan
was a dead team, an outside chance for the World Cup, nothing more. Today, with Test and
one-day victories in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and now Sharjah, they are the favourites
for the Cup. 
