One of world’s fastest bowlers of all time – Shoaib Akhtar’s international debut for Pakistan would have kick-started in Toronto against India itself, during the 1996 Sahara Cup. However, indiscipline and poor attitude were cited as the reasons which led to his delayed debut.
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Despite having intimidated the best of batters during his peak, Akhtar’s career has been largely dominated by quite a few controversies and infamous opinions. While he was once banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for as many as five years, the other time he was fined $5,000 for leaving the national cricket camp without permission.
His aggressive nature also witnessed him indulge in some heated exchange with a few players, while he also reportedly lashed out at the team management for dropping him from the playing XI during the 2011 ODI World Cup semi-final against India.
Having said that, even today post his retirement he has countless fans mostly from India, and despite having some on-field ‘not-so polite’ verbal interactions with some Indian players during his playing days, he has always made sure to hand them the respect that is due.
Shoaib Akhtar once stated Rahul Dravid as his biggest nightmare
During an interaction with Wisden India in the year 2015, Akhtar was all in praise of the two legendary Indian batters in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
While he remarked that Tendulkar had the ability to play better than anyone else during his time, he conceded that it was Rahul Dravid who turned out to be his biggest nightmare.
Singing praises of the present team India head coach, Akhtar back then had exclaimed that not only did he used to bore him, but used intimidate him in a manner that it almost always became certain that he’d have to field for at least a couple of more sessions.
“But the biggest nightmare I ever faced was Rahul Dravid. He used to bore me. He was the first batsman who could intimidate me, in terms of when he walked in, I knew I would have to field for at least two sessions more. Sachin was a brutal force. When he got going, he made sure he scored runs. But Dravid killed you mentally. And physically he tired you. He was like Muhammad Ali, he would tire you out and then knock you down,” Akhtar had exclaimed.
Having faced Akhtar across 12 Test innings, Dravid had managed to score 91 runs against him at an average of 45.50, but got Out twice against his bowling as well.
