Breaking the 100mph barrier wasn’t a big deal to me: Shoaib Akhtar 

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar made history during the 2003 World Cup when he became the first fast bowler to break the 100mph barrier in international cricket.

Shoaib Akhtar achieved the feat in a World Cup match between Pakistan and England in Cape Town while bowling to Nick Knight.

17 years down the line, the speedster recalled the feat and opened up about everything that went into the preparation to bowl at that pace.

"I ran with 170kg weights on my back, taking 20kg off after every 100-metre sprint. I also used to bowl from 26 yards with something much heavier than a cricket ball. When I came back to the 22 yards, I was about 6km/h (3.7mph) quicker,” Shoaib Akhtar said on BBC's Doosra podcast.

"I planned to bowl it against Nick Knight. I said to him: "I'm going to hurt you, so make sure you stay out of the way.' I told him I'd bowl 100mph in that over, on that exact ball," Shoaib Akhtar added.

The feat was just media hype: Shoaib Akhtar

The Rawalpindi Express, as Shoaib Akhtar is commonly known, also said that the feat was hyped up by the media and that breaking the 100mph barrier wasn’t a huge deal for him.

"Breaking the 100mph barrier wasn't a big deal to me. It was just media hype, an international cricket gimmick. I wasn't getting paid for this - to break my bones trying to bowl that fast. I just thought: "For heaven's sake, I need to finish this and just do it." So I planned it all out, I started training for it,” Shoaib Akhtar elaborated.

Shoaib Akhtar played 46 Tests, 163 ODIs and 15 T20Is for Pakistan, picking 178, 247 and 19 wickets respectively. He played his last international game in 2011 against New Zealand.