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Shoaib Akhtar:
The Fast and the Furious |
- Karthik Narayan
 When
one sees this warhorse gallop down the track,
one wonders if he ever thought about the 100
meters dash before taking up cricket. There are
various languages in this world, but for Shoaib
Akhtar, in the game of cricket, there is only
one language: SPEED. He talks that
language with the fury of a King who does not
want to be Second Best! Bowling fast is simply
his Menu for breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, and
that’s what he intends to do. Time is a factor
that is for the connoisseurs.
His bowling can be compared to Bombardment in
Physics. The term means directing a stream of
high speed particles at an object. Akhtar does
precisely that, he hurls the ball at great
speeds making the distance of 22 yards a touch
too short for the batsman to recover. By the
time the batsman tries to focus on the ball, he
is walking back to the pavilion, head hung in
the air.
He made his Test debut in the second test of the
season of 1997-98 at his Home Ground against the
WI. (This, incidentally, has earned him a name
of Rawalpindi Express). If Imran founded Wasim
Akram as the Great Bowler that he is, one can be
fair to say that it was Wasim Akram who
continued the tradition of nurturing this Pace
Man!
This Rawalpindi Express’ strength is his ability
to bowl Great Spells of Hostile Bowling at
regular intervals. It is Cannonade, totally
spitting fire continuously over a quick spell of
hot Meteor Showers at the batsman.
When he toured India in 1998-99, the Kolkata
test proved to be a surprise for the entire
World, as India and the world saw a new Star
with an attitude and allure. In the space of two
great balls, he turned the Test match on its
head He made Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid look
like Cannon-Fodder when he uprooted the stumps
from right under their feet. He made the whole
wide world look with their mouths left open
gaping at the pace generated by this passionate
youngster! He went on to take 8 wickets in that
Infamous Test where Sachin walked all around the
ground in the second Innings, and finally
Pakistan won comprehensively.
The “ultimate bowling spell” in the history of
Akhtar-Cricket is the six wickets in one innings
at Lahore in 2002 against the Kiwis. He proved
in that match he is a match winner capable of
wining matches in a mere matter of few overs. He
bowled just 8.2 overs with 4 of them maiden
overs, giving just 11 runs and SIX big wickets,
all of them great deliveries. Five out of the
six wickets had the stumps disturbed, so that
gives us an indication of his accuracy and
ability to hit the stumps from a height of 6
Feet Plus at a Fiery Pace. Shattering and
Knocking over the Stumps is the pleasant sight
for any fast bowler.
Adam Gilchrist is one of the most destructive
batsmen in cricket, and Akhtar’s pace has been
put away by him at the 1999 World Cup final,
where the Aussies found nothing great about his
bowling. But Akhtar had his revenge, as he made
them eat their words and shots. In the 1st
test against Aussies at Colombo in 2003, he
bowled out another great spell of 8 overs with a
five wicket haul, but then more than that five
wicket-haul, one ball he bowled to Adam
Gilchrist summed up what he can do with a round
red cherry! Stumps were rocked at their base by
a super ball, making us all wonder why a
spinner’s delivery is dubbed as the Ball of the
Century. That ball deserves more accolades as it
screamed through the defenses of that great
Aussie keeper, leaving him shipwrecked and his
stumps knocked back looking for replacements.
Brett Lee is the main Contender to de-throne
Akhtar from the claim of World’s fastest bowler.
A Comparison of these Two Men in the fast lane
might be interesting.
Akhtar seems to have a better strike rate in
test matches (45 balls compared to Lee’s 53) and
averages do vary…Akhtar gives less than 25 runs
per wicket compared to Lee’s 32.. So Lee toils
harder than Akhtar for wickets. Akhtar has taken
more 5-wicket hauls compared to Brett Lee.
But then, it’s a bit early to compare. Akhtar
has been left alone in the Pakistani Team, so he
has become the spearhead of the team. Only in
the recent years, Sami and a few other newcomers
have done well. Otherwise, most of the time,
Shoaib has done the Single Man Bowling job in
the Pakistani Pace Regiment after the “capital”
W’s (Wasim and Waqar) left the game. Saqlain
Mushtaq did not last long, and Azhar Mahmood and
a few others came and went.
His action is totally open chested. He has a
small crouch as he starts his pretty long run
up, and has the “Hidden Dragon” in his hand,
ready to unleash the most deadly weapon with all
the vile of a Black Magic exponent. The furious
pace, the reverse swing, the high flying hair,
the yell before he delivers his firing balls are
all part and parcel of this fine bowler’s
typical day in the field. He has had his bad day
with the ICC, with his action being questioned;
finally he has overcome that trauma and now
added an extra spring in his step into becoming
the fastest bowler in the world. That shows his
pure grit and determination.
His ODI performances are pretty good looking if
one goes by normal standards. His strike rate is
phenomenal, less than 30 balls for a wicket,
which means for every 10 overs that he bowls in
a match, he gets 2 wickets on an average, which
is phenomenal!
The problem with this bowler is that he cannot
be used over a long spell, and moreover he gets
exasperated if he does not pick up wickets. He
tries harder to hit the stumps, and manages to
spread the ball all over the park. The World Cup
2003 India encounter with Sehwag and Sachin is
the perfect example. These two master blasters
had the sheer guts in their stomach to irritate
this bowler by simply using his pace and
dispatching him to the fence consistently.
Akhtar has invaded all our hearts with his
heartwarming and Stumps burning performances. We
wish him all success in the future to continue
his fast and furious stints with the ball.
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