SHOAIB AKHTAR

Shoaib in "Action"

He’s tall, dark and deadly in his profession, is a crowd puller all around the world, and when he’s on the final approach running towards his target, flashes of camera go blindly wild.

That’s Shoaib Akhtar for you, one of the sexiest cricketers of modern day cricket. And his wild side is no less popular. Shoaib Akhtar is known to be arrogant, egoistical, womanizer and now a new tag has been attached to him; rapist. However the details are sketchy and it’s not known whether this is a cover-up by the PCB or a maligning attempt by some vested interests to tarnish Pakistani cricketers’ image.

According to what I’ve heard, an Indian paparazzi (the Indians love this mud-slinging game, don’t they?) has been on the trail of this Pakistani Casanova ever since he arrived in Australia, and leave it to Shoaib Akhtar to make the task of a slandering propagandist piece of cake. Whenever Shoaib Akhtar goes on one of his ‘relaxing’ excursions; it is easy dough for this Indian.

Does he have to pick up an ugly chick to be scandalously famous?

And it’s not that Shoaib Akhtar has suddenly turned over a new leaf after achieving celebrity status. He’s been like that even before he was a cricketer, and fame has just accentuated his quota of misdeeds. Shoaib Akhtar was a typical paindu Gunda (punk), and he’s damn proud about it. He has bragged quite a few times about the different scars he has been bestowed with from many of his scuffles, especially the knife induced one on his belly. He was a big gambler as well, used to bet on his own bowling and that’s probably what inspired him to beat the odds. He certainly has beaten the odds in the past few years, going from hero to not even zero, but to a venomous villain.

It’s been quite a long time since Shoaib Akhtar has churned out a match-winning performance, and if I’m right, hardly one or two times after the two Ws retired, or were forced to retire. The only one I can remember is that deadly spell Shoaib Akhtar produced in the second Test match against New Zealand at their home ground which Pakistan won to clinch the Test series. But that’s all.

Check out the statistics and you would be surprised as well at this strange fact. And it makes sense as well. While Wasim and Waqar were there, they used to exert unbearable pressure on the batsman, and then the prospect of facing the fierce pace of Shoaib Akhtar made them lose the battle psychologically. But with these two out of the picture, the batsmen only have to bear three to four overs of Shoaib which is all he can dish out at a time, and then there is no danger.

If he shortens his run-up then there’s hope of his regaining some of his lost glory, but he’s not willing to let go of his famed, almost glamorous 33- metre run-up, even after being advised by one of the best coach in the world, Bob Woolmer and one of the best bowler around these days, Glenn McGrath. What Shoaib Akhtar doesn’t realize or doesn’t want to face is the fact that he’s aging; he can never be that dashing bowler of yore. Waqar Younis realized it in time to adjust from tear-away fast bowler to swing and seam pacer so to be able to sustain his career by almost half a decade.

But it looks like Shoaib doesn’t have much common sense. His body can’t take the load of this type of bowling anymore. It is said that that the leg which lands on the popping crease at the time of delivery, has to bear almost 9 times the body weight of the person. When such exertions and strains are involved, it’s only natural that Shoaib breaks down every now and then, and it won’t be long before he breaks down for good. Everyone grows old, but those that realize that beforehand and adjust accordingly, age gracefully.