The Life of Shoaib Akhtar
He was fast, faster than fast, faster than power. No one was like him. When the ball left his hands, it seemed as if it caught fire. He was also angry and a bit eccentric, a typical angry young man. When he came to bowl to get someone out, even the biggest batsmen in the world couldn't handle it. [Appreciation] Beautifully and wonderfully, at a time when cricket was becoming increasingly batsman-friendly, He was the last glimpse of fast bowling. After him, the era of fast bowling perhaps ended forever. We are talking about the fastest bowler in history, Shoaib Akhtar. [Appreciation]
His cricket career was extraordinary, but his life story is even stranger. And today, on Raftaar Sports, we will tell you that story. So subscribe to the channel and follow Raftaar Sports on every platform, because we bring you a lot from the world of cricket and sports, not just documentaries but also excellent podcasts and many reels and shorts as well. So, Raftaar Sports presents The Life of Shoaib Akhtar.
This is Eden Gardens, Kolkata, mid-February 1999. The match is India vs Pakistan. There are over a hundred thousand spectators in the stadium. The noise is so loud that ears can't hear anything. Amidst this chaos, there was a young man, only 23 years old, with experience of just eight matches. Now he faced the biggest challenge of his life. Because the world's best batting lineup was in front.
In the first spell, he took the big wicket of VVS Laxman. Now 50 overs were done, and India had scored 147 for two wickets. Pakistan urgently needed wickets. The ball was handed over again. The young man who bowled that over clean bowled Rahul Dravid with a ball that made a hole in the wall. O superb spell!
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar entered the field. The crowd raised slogans of "Sachin, Sachin." But no one had any idea what was going to happen next. A young man, unknown to many, bowled that ball, a perfect ball that descended from the sky, that in a blink of an eye blew away the stumps of the great Sachin. He, who had never been out on the first-ball duck, got an egg for breakfast. And yes, just one ball before, in that noisy stadium, silence fell. The arrival of Shoaib Akhtar was announced.
But his journey to this point started long ago, almost 2,000 km away from this stadium in Rawalpindi, about 24 years ago, on August 13, 1975, when Shoaib Akhtar was born, the fifth son of his parents, the weakest and sickest child. That child had another problem: he was flat-footed. By the age of 3, he couldn't walk. He also got whooping cough. The illness was so severe that the family lost hope, but his mother did not lose courage. With her love, care, and continuous treatment, Shoaib survived.
Then the weak child started gaining strength. The one who couldn't walk, started running. Running so fast that no one in the neighborhood could match him. He started doing everything running. Without any reason, he kept running. Understand, he was the Forrest Gump of his era.
As he grew older, his mischiefs increased. Shoaib chased kites in the streets of Pindi. Most complaints were about him. And this trait was later seen in the cricket world too.
This was the time when Imran Khan ruled cricket. Shoaib started copying Imran Khan's bowling action. His love for cricket grew. This interest brought him to the Pindi club.
In 1994, an official of the Rawalpindi Cricket Association saw Shoaib playing. He was called to play a match in Lahore. In this match, Shoaib took 11 wickets and got selected for Pakistan Under-19. He got an opportunity in PIA. The journey to Lahore was one of the strangest memories in Shoaib Akhtar's life. With little money, he and his friend Ijaz Arshad traveled without tickets by lying on the roof of a bus. In Lahore, they met a rickshaw puller, Aziz Khan, who gave them a place to sleep and fed them. This was a favor Shoaib Akhtar never forgot.
In 1996, Shoaib joined the Zarai Taraqiati Bank team. In his first season, he took 75 wickets. He was selected for Pakistan A's England tour. In 1997, he made his Test debut in Rawalpindi against the West Indies. In 1998, on a South Africa tour, he took five wickets for 43 runs in Durban and helped Pakistan win by 29 runs.
In 1999, at Kolkata, he clean bowled Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar consecutively and became a permanent part of cricket history. In the 1999 World Cup, his deliveries reached 97, 98, and 99 miles per hour. Tony Greig gave him the nickname Rawalpindi Express. Pakistan reached the final but lost badly.
In late 1999, his bowling action was questioned by Darrell Hair. He was banned but later cleared. On April 27, 2002, against New Zealand in Lahore, Shoaib's ball was recorded at 161 km/h (100 mph). In the 2003 World Cup against England, he bowled 161.3 km/h, 100.1 mph. ICC accepted him as the fastest.
But controversies, injuries, and disciplinary issues followed. He played only 46 Tests and 163 ODIs in over 13 years. His last international match was in the 2011 World Cup. In his last over, he conceded 28 runs and ended his career.
Shoaib Akhtar was a maverick, a rebel, and a free bird. A falcon. And a fast bowler should be exactly like that.