Shoaib Akhtar - The Rawalpindi Express: Speed does matter

Shoaib Akhtar – The Rawalpindi Express

International cricket in the late nineties and early 2000s witnessed the arrival of one of the legends of modern day fast bowling – terrorizing batsmen from around the world with his lightning fast pace and raw rusty looks – Shoaib Akhtar, the Rawalpindi express!

One of the fastest bowlers international cricket has ever seen, cricket fans can never forget the back to back lightning fast yorkers in the India versus Pakistan Test match at Kolkata in 1999 that shattered the stumps of the wall Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

It launched Shoaib Akhtar into the international cricketing arena, and marked the beginning an era of ruthless pace bowling terrorizing batsmen all around the globe. Incidentally, it was the first ball he ever bowled to Sachin Tendulkar.

Some hate him and some admire him, but there are no half measures when it comes to the Rawalpindi express, Shoaib Akhtar!

Born on 13 August, 1975 in Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar made his Test debut in November 1997 and played his first one day international match four months later, following which he became the spearhead of Pakistan fast bowling attack.

Although his not so long cricketing career was clouded with controversies, comprising of fights with fellow team mates and testing positive for banned substances, Shoaib Akhtar made his presence felt in the international cricketing arena and always played on the opposition’s mind with his ruthless pace bowling.

As it’s said, aggression and debate come naturally to pace bowlers. Shoaib Akhtar has been one of the leaders in aggression and has been the subject of many controversial topics, starting from debates with ball tampering and testing positive for banned substances, to on-field quarrels with fellow team members and opposition players, including a verbal squabble with Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh.

Shoaib Akhtar was indeed a legend of modern day fast bowling with his extremely fast pace and clean line and length and undeniably was one of the fastest bowlers the cricketing universe has ever seen.

The fans called him “Rawalpindi Express”, owing to his origin in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and his blistering fast pace. The Rawalpindi Express’s fastest delivery was clocked at a scorching 161.3 km/h, and he was known to cross the 150 km/h mark frequently. Shoaib Akhtar also holds the record for the first ever bowler to have bowled over 100 m/h mark. The Rawalpindi express has about 176 Test match wickets and 235 one day international wickets to his credentials.

Although many experts have termed him as over-hyped, rusty and overly aggressive, Shoaib Akhtar had certainly formed his own cult of fans who loved him in his war like aggressive avatar. Possessing warrior like raw instincts and aggressive traits, this rugged looking fast bowler definitely ruled many hearts for a decade with his ruthless fast bowling.

Shoaib Akhtar’s run of impressive performances started in the late nineties where during a pre-World Cup series against arch rivals India, he rose to prominence. The Rawalpindi Express followed it up magnificently by consistently churning out splendid bowling performances in Sharjah and in the 1999 cricket World Cup, where his performance was very good.

For cricket fans and Shoaib Akhtar admirers, there could have been no better sight in world cricket than watching the Rawalpindi Express chuffing at full throttle during the late 90s and early 2000s. The long run-up with the wind in his face, and his outstretched hands about to release the delivery at sweltering pace was indeed a sight of terror for many batsmen in world cricket during the playing days of Shoaib Akhtar.

Shoaib Akhtar decimated the Indian batting line-up in 1999 in the Asian Test championship

On his day, Shoaib Akhtar had the ability of hammering his way down to the tail-end of any batting order with his blistering pace and tidy line and length.

Bad temper and career threatening injuries went hand in hand with the Rawalpindi Express for the most part of his career. During the year 2004 Shoaib Akhtar was dropped from the Pakistan cricket squad for a series of bad performances and injuries.

Akhtar fought his way back into the squad in 2005 and regained his lost magnificence as a fast bowler with brilliant performances versus England. It was in this series that the English batsmen learnt that Shoaib Akhtar had developed a deadly slower delivery as well, which made life challenging for the English players.

This modern day fast bowling legend has had his fair share of club cricket as well. Shoaib Akhtar has played for three English county cricket clubs. He rendered his services to English clubs Somerset in 2001, Durham during 2003 and 2004 and Worcestershire in 2005.

The Rawalpindi express achieved success in the county cricket too, claiming a 5-wicket haul for 35 runs for Durham against Somerset in 2003 and claiming 6 wickets for 16 runs for Worcestershire after a couple of years.

Shoaib Akhtar played a role in the cash rich Indian premier league (IPL) as well when he was picked for the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in its inaugural edition. Although injuries kept him out for most of the tournament, he did justify his purchase with a four-wicket haul in a match against Delhi Daredevils.

Kolkata were defending a modest total of 133 runs and the Rawalpindi Express made sure that the opposition was restricted to 110 runs with his impressive fast bowling.

Shoaib Akhtar has also worn the jersey for Cyclones of Chittagong in Bangladesh’s NCL T20 league.

Controversies were an integral part of the otherwise glorious career of Shoaib Akhtar. In October 2006, Shoaib Akhtar and fellow pacer Mohd. Asif were handed over a ban for testing positive to banned performance enhancing substances, though he was later cleared after an appeal.

Prior to the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup in 2007, held in South Africa, Akhtar was rumoured to have injured his Pakistani teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat. Even his autobiography titled as “controversially yours” created waves of dissatisfaction and debates amongst the cricketing fraternity, including former teammate Wasim Akram who was reportedly dissatisfied with the claims Shoaib had made in his book.

There is absolute no denying of the fact that Shoaib Akhtar has left a deep impact on cricket through his eccentric ways. His illustrious career was prone to injuries and controversies followed him all though till the end, but in spite of all the accusations, the Rawalpindi Express did leave an indelible mark on his fans with his splendid performances and lightning fast pace bowling.

He was one of his kind. You either love him or hate him, but you can’t simply ignore him. Such was the aura of this person!