Pakistan’s pacer Shoaib Akhtar was the fastest pacer to ever play the game. Known as “Rawalpindi Express”, Akhtar once bowled a 161.3 km/h delivery against England during the 2003 World Cup in Cape Town. He played his last international match in 2011 and is still a very popular name.
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Throughout his career, Akhtar was engaged in quite a few controversial stuff. Akhtar once revealed that he intentionally tried to smash Sachin Tendulkar on his head during India vs Pakistan Test in 2006 in Karachi. He also mentioned his plan to rattle Sourav Ganguly with shorter deliveries.
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When England arrived in Pakistan in 2005, Akhtar had some heated moments with Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff made his infamous “Tarzan” comment on Akhtar, and the Pakistani pacer had a proper reply for him as well.
Shoaib Akhtar was banned for 2 years by PCB for taking performance-enhancing drugs
Shoaib Akhtar got engaged in yet another controversy when he was banned for a couple of years for doping by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Along with Akhtar, pacer Mohammad Asif was banned for one year. There is a minimum punishment of a couple of years for doping, but Asif was given a little leniency due to his age.
Both of them were accused of taking the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone. Shahid Hamid, the chairman of the Pakistan doping panel confirmed that both players were satisfied with how the process went, and they failed to prove their innocence in front of the panel.
“We gave a full chance to both the pacemen to fight their cases and after a thorough inquiry we feel they failed to prove their innocence,” said Shahid Hamid, the chairman of the panel said.
Akhtar said that he was taking a protein-rich diet and took some medicines from a local hakim. He said that he has never taken any kind of banned substance knowingly. However, he did not appeal against the ban and never asked for a re-test as well.
“I have not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs and would never cheat my teammates or opponents in this way,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
