Shoaib Akhtar was one of the most lethal pacers in the history of the game. Akhtar did not just threaten batters with his pace but sledged them as well. In modern-day cricket, sledging still exists but Akhtar feels that the players are too friendly and should not be afraid of fines for breaching the International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct.
“Badtameezi missing hai (The misbehavior is missing),” Akhtar in a video on Sorabh Pant’s YouTube channel. “Even I was bowling at 135kph, but the curses will only be given at 145kph. That is missing. 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?”
Akhtar recalled an incident from his career when former Australian opener Matthew Hayden almost got into a fight during breakfast ahead of the 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,” the 48-year-old said.
While Akhtar is not happy with modern-day fast bowlers' mannerisms, he is impressed by their pace.
“I like Shaheen and Naseem (Shah). (Mohammad) Amir was very good. Bumrah was very good,” says Akhtar. “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),” the sppedster said.
Once again, he shared his opinion on Jasprit Bumrah who got sidelined due to back injury as he said, “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.”
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