Shoaib Akhtar - The Rawalpindi Express: Speed does matter

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!