Do you guys seriously think they will do something with Shoaib? Don't we hear and discuss this after EVERY series, on how they should or will punish him?
Shoaib Akhtar will be in the team for a while longer, till they fully groom the rest of the pacers.
I read Zaheer Abbas's columns very regularly. The good thing about him is that, unlike a majority of Pakistanis, he doesn't believe in chopping and changing players at the first signs of defeat nor does he believe in all is well when the team wins. In one of his columns after the NZ tour or after RSA visited us, he suggested that Pakistan has been winning not as a team but on the basis of individual brilliance on a particular day, and the day these individual stars stopped shining, Pakistan team would be in deep trouble. I think those stars just stopped shining.
Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar regrets loss to India, denies rift with captain](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Disgruntled Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar lamented the home series loss against India and his own poor form but denied any lack of effort and differences with captain Inzamam-ul Haq.
“I am disappointed we lost the home series against India and my own form, but saying that my attitude and effort were not up to the mark is wrong,” Akhtar told AFP.
“I failed to produce but the defeat is not of one man, its a defeat of eleven against eleven, just like our last two series wins were wins of the team.”
The fiery bowler – known as the Rawalpindi Express for his pace – came under severe criticism following Pakistan’s innings and 131-run loss in the third Test and with it their first ever home series loss to India by 2-1.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq lashed out at Akhtar, saying his poor form led to the Test series defeat against India.
“We depended a lot on Akhtar because he is one of the fastest bowlers in the world, but he let us down badly,” Inzamam said after the match on Friday.
Inzamam said the poor form of Akhtar, who managed just seven wickets in the three-match series at an average of 42, was one of the major reasons for the defeat.
But the 28-year-old paceman said he tried his best.
“I am a human and humans fail. But I assure everyone that I tried my best in the series,” he said.
“We have lost to a better team, we did well in Lahore and won. No one criticised us then and now everyone gets out the knives after the defeat,” said Akhtar, also criticised for not taking the field after complaining of a side strain on Thursday.
He later hit a quickfire 28 without showing any discomfort which led to suspicions whether his injury was genuine.
"I fell down while bowling on Wednesday and that hurt my back, you need the whole body to be perfect when you bowl while it is different when you are batting.
“I am surprised how can someone think I was not badly injured.”
Inzamam also came down hard on Akhtar’s reported telephone call to former captain Rashid Latif complaining of improper field placing by the captain.
“I have heard that Shoaib told someone that he did not want to bowl because I was not giving him the field he wanted, if it’s true I will insist action be taken against him,” Inzamam had said after the match.
Akhtar denied he had anything against Inzamam.
“I can call anyone from Wasim Akram to Waqar Younis to Latif but it was just an advice-seeking call to gain my rhythm and I never complained about anything,” he said.
Akhtar urged fans not to chasten the team after one defeat.
“We have lost and let the fans down but we are a good and young team and we need time to mature,” he said.
From cricinfo:
Shoaib Akhtar
Shoaib Akhtar started off in Multan with one of his flattest performances in recent memory. The heat, Sehwag's bat and the pitch didn't help, but apart from a spell on the second morning, he looked disinterested. He perked up briefly at Lahore on a more helpful track in the second innings where he menacingly worked over Irfan Pathan. At Rawalpindi, his homeground, he looked the most threatening. But, as before, his poor fitness caught up with him. He rarely bowled more than five or six overs in any spell, looked tired throughout the series, and found no swing, reverse or conventional. In addition, he decided that bouncing out the Indians was the only strategy. *The controversy following his absence on the third day – which meant yet another incomplete series - **when Pakistan needed him most, and his subsequent blazing cameo on the last day, suggest that all is not well between him and captain Inzamam. **The time has come for Pakistan cricket to make a decision on Shoaib Akhtar, the prima donna, and Shoaib Akhtar, the bowler. *
Shoaib’s lack of commitment,
attitude problems bother Inzamam
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Definite problems existed between Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar during the India series and this was confirmed on Sunday when a team member disclosed that the former was not keen on playing Shoaib in the second Test at Lahore.
"The truth is there were on and off communication problems between the two. After the Multan Test, Shoaib only offered to step down on basis of poor form for the second Test after he learnt that Inzamam didn’t want him for the Lahore match and was adamant about it even with the selectors," the player told "The News" on condition of anonymity.
"It was only on the insistence of chief executive Rameez Raja that Inzamam agreed to play Shoaib in Lahore which is why Rameez is so upset with Shoaib’s behaviour in the Pindi Test. Rameez had backed the pacer despite the wishes of Inzamam and even coach Javed Miandad who believed he (Shoaib) was not committed enough to give his best in the series," he disclosed.
He said there was a lot of tension between Inzi and Shoaib after the latter claimed he had hurt his side back muscles and could not bowl at all because of extreme pain.
Inzi didn"t speak to him after that and when Shoaib went out and batted so freely on the fourth day, Inzi gave him a piece of his mind and told him he had insulted him and the team with his attitude and behaviour," the player narrated. "There was a lot of tension in the dressing room after Shoaib returned from his batting cameo."
He said that afterwards when Shoaib realized that the public opinion was turning against him and even the other players were not happy with him he went into the wash room where Inzi normally goes to have a smoke and started apologizing to him but Inzi would not listen to anything.
The player said Inzi had already been upset with Shoaib during the one-day series blaming him for not trying hard enough and making things difficult for the team. And the moment he came to know that he (Shoaib) had called up Rashid Latif and another former player and complained to him about his captaincy and some other things in the team, he further distanced himself from the fast bowler.
"Inzi was also upset before the Pindi Test when he realized that it was Shoaib who had leaked out the story about Tauseef leaving the team before the match," the player informed.
He narrated that unfortunately Shoaib’s attitude also changed for the worse even during the second Test in Lahore when Inzi let Dr Tauseef Razzak have a piece of his mind when he had misbehaved with Miandad after one of the net sessions.
" Dr Razzak had actually misbehaved and argued with Miandad over the fact that Shoaib and the other fast bowlers were being made to bowl a lot in the nets between matches. When Inzamam learnt of this he confronted the doctor who was then told to leave if he wanted to," the player disclosed.
But the most interesting disclosure by the player was that there were even communication problems between Inzi and Miandad at times in the series and the Pakistan captain was not happy with the fact that despite his cooperation the coach at times tried to shift all the blame on to him.
"Miandad is no doubt a very sincere and committed coach and works very hard on the players. But his negative trait is that he is unwilling to share the blame for any poor performance nor is he willing to accept and take assistance from the introduction of modern and specialist technology/help in the team something with which Inzi has no problems," the player said.
But the player said generally Inzamam and Miandad worked well together and had made it a point to avoid any confrontations over any issue.
"One example of this is that when Imran Khan invited Inzi, Shoaib, Youhana and few other players with manager Haroon Rasheed to a dinner in Islamabad, Inzi first wanted to know if Imran had invited Miandad and when Imran called him up he told him rather sarcastically if he (Imran) was inviting him to further castigate him as he had been doing on television," the player said.
Is This Drama or Is it The Humanitarian Side of Shoaib Akhtar!!!
Akhtar hopes marriage will rein in Sehwag
Mumbai: Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is hoping that marriage will do what bowlers around the world have failed to - rein in Virender Sehwag.
At the receiving end of Sehwag’s fury for most part of the just-concluded Indo-Pak series, Shoaib said Sehwag’s marriage to his long-time sweetheart should “mellow down” the batsman who created history in Multan by slamming the first-ever triple century by an Indian.
“I hope Viru (Sehwag) will mellow down a bit after his marriage and stop attacking the bowlers world over as he has been doing,” he told reporters in a lighter vein while expressing his inability to make it to the marriage function in Delhi on Thursday.
The speed demon, who was here to shoot a commercial along with Sachin Tendulkar, also took the opportunity to wish the batting maestro happy birthday in advance. Tendulkar turns 31 on Saturday.
Showing his concern for larger issues, Shoaib said India and Pakistan should stop waging wars and become friendly neighbours as they had similar cultures and traditions.
Shoaib also took time off from his busy schedule to interact and play cricket with cancer-affected children at the King George V Memorial hospital here.
“Because of the recent friendship series between India and Pakistan, I could come here and meet all these beautiful children and if I were not to be a cricketer may be I could never have got a chance to visit different countries and learn their cultures,” he added.
The Rawalpindi Express, who patiently answered all the questions thrown at him by the 25-odd children, said “I love children very much and I wanted to come and meet them personally during this visit. I am really happy to be among these kids and seeing them smile makes me feel I have done something worthwhile in my life so far”.
http://headlines.sify.com/3060news5.html?headline=Akhtar~hopes~marriage~will~rein~in~Sehwag
It seems he is not gonna face any punishment
Shoaib Akhtar gets legal notice over alleged fake injury:
LAHORE, April 23: A disgruntled Pakistani cricket fan today served a legal notice against express pacer Shoaib Akhtar accusing him of faking an injury in the recent test series against India. "My client Babar Ali has served a legal notice on Akhtar over pretending injury in the decisive Test against India and over his reported night club bashes in India," Babar's lawyer Ansar Mahmood Bajwa told AFP. The fan demanded 100 million rupees (around 1.7 million dollars) in damages within 15 days, and threatened to take the case to court if damages were not paid. (AFP) (Posted @ 14:25 PST)
uff these pakis....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by zakiahmed: *
Shoaib Akhtar gets legal notice over alleged fake injury:
LAHORE, April 23: A disgruntled Pakistani cricket fan today served a legal notice against express pacer Shoaib Akhtar accusing him of faking an injury in the recent test series against India. "My client Babar Ali has served a legal notice on Akhtar over pretending injury in the decisive Test against India and over his reported night club bashes in India," Babar's lawyer Ansar Mahmood Bajwa told AFP. The fan demanded 100 million rupees (around 1.7 million dollars) in damages within 15 days, and threatened to take the case to court if damages were not paid. (AFP) (Posted @ 14:25 PST)
uff these pakis....
[/QUOTE]
Isn't this the same guy who served notices on Akram and Shoib before as well. Moron.