Sydney
Former Australia cricket captain Michael Clarke recalled Shoaib Akhtar’s fiery pace during his cricketing days.
Clarke was among the many Australian batsmen who faced Akhtar, dubbed as the Rawalpindi Express for his ferocious pace, recalled how the Pakistani pacer was even faster than Brett Lee, the former Australian captain’s ex-teammate.
“”Shoaib Akhtar was the fastest I faced. He could bowl 160kph. Different type of bowler who could bowl quick for 3 overs. Lee was quick but Shoaib was quicker,” he said.
Clarke named Akhtar the fastest among pacers such as Australians Shaun Tait, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie.
The former Pakistani fast bowler played 46 Test matches in his career and picked up 178 wickets. He played more ODIs by comparison, picking up an impressive 247 wickets from 163 matches.
He played only 15 T20Is and managed to get 19 wickets from them. Akhtar was feared by batsmen around the world during his cricketing days, owing to his deadly bouncers and lethal yorkers.
At one point in time, Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were considered the most dangerous bowling pair in the world.
He led Pakistan to many wins, becoming a dangerous weapon in Pakistan’s pace arsenal when the green shirts already had Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis terrorising batsmen around the world.—AFP
