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Rawalpindi Express brings controversy again…
September 30, 2011
Former Pakistan Test cricketers and Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar at last again appears in the press after six months with another controversial chapter to released his autobiography Controversially Yours’ in India claiming that former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram tried to ‘finish’ his career as well as questioned the abilities of two of the current leading Indian batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid
His biography 'Controversially Yours' also added that match fixing and ball tampering were part and parcel of the game of cricket and he also tampered with the ball and also clarified that it was former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi, who cheated him.
Shoaib, one of the most controversial cricketers in 1999, there wasn't a more thrilling sight in the world than Shoaib hurtling in off an impossibly long run and beating the world's best batsmen for pace. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were clean bowled off successive deliveries at Eden Gardens but his carrier always in the controversy. No doubt that Shoaib is supposedly the fastest bowler that the game has ever seen and is best remembered not only for bowling missiles that had stumps after stumps flying all around the ground but also for his antics off the field which included fights with the PCB, many disciplinary hearing and suspensions.
Rawalpindi Express has written in his book that Wasim Akram conspired against him. “Wasim threatened to walk out with half the team if I was included in the team,” he said.
“I bowled (Sachin) a particularly fast ball which he, to my amazement didn’t even touch. He walked away! That was the first time, I saw him walk away from me — that, too, on the slow track at Faisalabad. It got my hunting instincts up and in the next match I hit him on the head and he couldn’t score after that,” Akhtar wrote.
“I think players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid weren’t exactly match winners to start with, nor did they know the art of finishing the game,” Shoaib said.
If we see the Shoaib’s carrier then easily take decision that his tried to get some space in the media to gear up his value through launch his biography. In 1997 with rocky start but dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Sahara Cup against India on grounds of indiscipline and poor attitude. In November 2002 he banned for an ODI after throwing a bottle at the crowds in Zimbabwe. More ball-tampering allegations emerge in the first Test. In 2003 he Dropped, banned again as well as vice-captain for Test against South Africa and is served up a lawsuit by a Pakistani citizen for attending a fashion show on a night of religious significance.
In 2006, Shoaib Akhtar Banned for two years after testing positive for the banned substance Nandrolone, Shoaib is sent back to Pakistan and misses the Champions Trophy. The verdict, however, is overturned by a three-man tribunal a month later.
In 2007, he named in a 30-man squad for the World Cup, as the selectors have a change of heart. But a televised spat with Bob Woolmer results in Shoaib being fined by the board. Later, after much deliberation, Shoaib is declared unfit to take part in the World Cup due to injury at the very last minute. Same year A dressing-room spat with Mohammad Asif in South Africa results in Shoaib being sent back home prior to the World Twenty20. Shoaib is consequently handed a 13-match ban and a fine of approximately US$57,000 for a number of breaches of discipline. He is also placed on a two-year probationary period during which any disciplinary breaches could result in a life ban.
He announced his retirement from the international game during the cricket world cup 2011 after another battle with skipper Shahid Afridi and team management. While that is unlikely to ever happen, one can only hope the ‘no-holds barred’ book is as compelling as Shoaib's career has been.
On the other hand former Pakistan cricketer, Shoaib Akhtar has refuted the media reports that he had
Former Pakistan Test cricketers have criticised Shoaib Akhtar for hitting out at cricket stars and Bollywood icons in his autobiography as Moin Khan and Aamir Sohail termed Shoaib’s allegations against Wasim as ‘ridiculous’. “Wasim was a great player they said, adding that Wasim is an inspirational figure for youngsters.
“It's ridiculous to blame him this way and the points raised by Shoaib in his book were just an attempt to create public curiosity”, they said.
Former fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz said the player had made an attempt to get limelight after his retirement. “Shoaib wants publicity through his book.” However, Sarfraz claimed that whatever Shoaib had written about Wasim was true. Former fast bowler Sikandar Bakht said that although he respected Shoaib, the player should not have degraded Wasim and Indian players.
Former PCB chairman Tauqir said that whatever Shoaib wrote about Wasim was not based on facts. “Wasim retired from international cricket in 2003, while Shoaib took retirement after the 2011 World Cup. How can he (Wasim) be blamed to finish his career,” he said. Tauqir was also of the view that Shoaib had implicated the former captain to sell his book.
The scheduled release of Shoaib Akhtar’s book in Mumbai has also cancelled, with the organisers giving no reasons as well as many demonstration ware held against Rawalpindi Express autobiography ‘Controversially Yours’. The sudden cancellation may be because of less than flattering remarks about Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in the book. Akhtar has made many controversial claims, such as Tendulkar did not have the ability to finish matches in the initial stages of his career.
Former Pakistan’s captain Wasim Akram also ridiculed Shoaib Akhtar and his book, saying the pacer was a “problem” when he was an active player and remains just that even in retirement. “I remember Sachin’s one innings when he was 16 and touring Pakistan. The Sialkot Test was Sachin’s 4th Test. He made his debut in that series. There was a lot of grass on the pitch. Waqar and I bowled very fast. Waqar, I think, was 19 and Sachin was 16.
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