Shoaib Akhtar on modern pacers: ‘Badtameezi is missing….Hayden and I once picked a knife and fork against each other’ | Cricket News
The Rawalpindi Express isn’t amused the mannerisms of modern day pacers, the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jasprit Bumrah and Mark Wood. While he has praise to shower upon them, there is also a criticism of the likes and modern cricket itself.
“Badtameezi missing hai (The misbehavior is missing),” Shoaib Akhtar rues to Sorabh Pant in a video on the latter’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 rug 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 then shared an incident from his playing days when the fabled Pakan pacer was willing to knife former Australia opener Matthew Hayden on 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,” Akhtar says with a chuckle.
Beyond the above though, there is also adulation for the modern pioneers of the pace bowling art.
“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).”Most Read
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The 48-year-old then shares his opinion on Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s recent injury troubles, and that he’d seen it coming. “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 says.
The 29-year-old had recently made his comeback to professional cricket after almost a year’s time, recovering from a recurring back injury and led the Indian side to a 2-0 T20I bilateral series win in Ireland, also finishing as the leading wicket taker. Bumrah is currently part of the Indian squad at the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, but is yet to bowl a delivery for the men in blue in ODIs. The pacer had left for Mumbai ahead of India’s game against Nepal last week for the birth of his son.
Akhtar then terms Pakan’s contemporary new ball pacer, Shaheen Shah Afridi as a ‘great asset’. The left arm quick is currently the second highest wicket taker at the ongoing Asia Cup, with eight scalps. Afridi alongside Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, makes for the pace trio that has been touted as one of the best bowling attacks going into the ODI World Cup this year. The three share 68 wickets between each other in the 50-overs format this year.
