Very Interesting Interview
Talking Cricket | ‘You have to be mad to be a fast bowler’ | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo
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TALKING CRICKET
‘You have to be mad to be a fast bowler’
Who would know better than the maddest, baddest, fastest one of them all, Shoaib Akhtar
INTERVIEW BY SIDHARTH MONGA | APRIL 2015
Pretty early into this interview, talking about something else, Shoaib Akhtar said, "I’m a man of my word. I told you we’ll meet at six, see, I’m here at looks at the watch, which shows 7pm, and disregards it], erm, six." I didn’t disagree. He was talking beautifully about fast bowling, which I didn’t want to interrupt.
If his boast about being a man of his word was Shoaib being Shoaib, Shoaib had been Shoaib about ten minutes previously. Yes, he was late, but he had just driven from London to Birmingham, with Mohammad Yousuf by his side. I told him he could take his time to freshen up. We could even meet some other day. But Shoaib insisted otherwise. Good job I sat down with him in the bar of his hotel. From the moment he started to talk about the joys of bowling fast - what it is about fast bowling that makes fast bowlers go through so much pain, make so many sacrifices - thoughts and ideas began to flow thick and fast.
You can struggle to keep pace with Shoaib’s mind, but if you slow him down and get him to expand on his thoughts, what seems on the surface a wild, boastful headline statement becomes simple and enriching. And it doesn’t stop Shoaib from being Shoaib.
Why did you want to become a fast bowler?
I wanted to copy someone. Waqar. Imran. Wasim. That’s what you call inspiration. Then it became my passion. Then it became my madness. Then in that madness I found the method to become the fastest. Then in that method I found another method of being the smartest. Then I found another method where I was the most unfit fast bowler. I realised whatever time I have, I am not going to slow down. I am going to bowl as quick as possible. I used to find ways to increase my passion and my madness to bowl fast.
I used to bowl in the galli-mohallas [streets and neighbourhoods], copying Waqar’s action demonstrates running in with his little finger on the left hand hidden; Waqar Younis’ little finger was amputated].
Inspiration is important. Talent always follows heroes. Inspiration drives you forward, and then it becomes madness, and then you find a method in that madness. I found that method, which is to bowl quick every day. And knowing fully well that you are going to get unfit, and that you have only five to six years in your knees and you want to bowl fast as long as you can bowl. The method to bowling quick is to enjoy it. The roar of the crowd always used to drive me nuts. Whether it was a boo or a roar to cheer me up, that crowd inspired me most of the time to bowl quick. I used to find a reason to bowl quick. “I am feeling good today, I am in a good mood today, I am going to bowl quick.”
“Inspiration is important. Talent always follows heroes. Inspiration drives you forward, and then it becomes madness, and then you find a method in that madness”
How difficult is it to bowl fast?
I used to crawl to my bathroom every day of my career. I used to limp out of my bed. I can’t remember a day I didn’t have pain in my knees for the last 18 years.
What is the joy of fast bowling that makes you go through this?
The big star on your chest. The Pakistan star. It was the biggest motivation for me. [When I was selected] I slept in the kit, in the Pakistan colours, for three nights. I didn’t want to take it off. I felt so comfortable and so cosy, I just wanted to be in that kit for the rest of my life. Minor things that made me feel happy were the little smiles on people’s faces when they saw me.
Most of the times you are entertaining yourself. Being a fast bowler is the best thing in cricket. You are running in, the crowd is behind you and you enjoy it. The heart pumps more blood and you take in more oxygen. Half the time I was entertaining myself. Because I was loving myself out there because of who I was. I enjoyed a lot. When the opposition is strong, or in front of a full house, you are charged twice as much. I would be most charged up against Australia. Gilly [Adam Gilchrist] at No. 7, and you are tired, and he lashes at you. He could be beaten by the same delivery and hit a similar delivery. The best idea was to get him out early. The best idea was to bowl round the stumps and reverse it into him. Otherwise he could hit almost everything else.
“The method to bowling quick is to enjoy it. The roar of the crowd always used to drive me nuts” © PA Photos
For a fast bowler what is the ultimate joy?
To be able to run in without pain. With rhythm like a smooth river. There have been only a few days in my life when I felt like that. And I just wanted to bowl and bowl and bowl all day.
And then stumps tumbling around. The sound of the ball hitting the stumps. You learn all this swing, seam and bouncers later. The first thing you want to do is to hear the ball on the stumps. That yorker hitting the stumps. That smile, that pleasure it gave me, I can never get it from anywhere. That is the smile from inside. I am on the top of the world.
I never enjoyed hitting people. I never ever enjoyed hitting people. Not for one second of my life.
But it is also part of your work. You have to scare batsmen.
I could smell fear. I used to sense fear. I used to see fear in people’s eyes. I would be terrified against my bowling. My action as it is was difficult to pick. Then I had a lethal slower one and a quick fast bouncer.
For someone who had that bouncer, it is surprising you didn’t like hitting batsmen.
I was more interested in getting people out. If I couldn’t, then I would love to hit people. I never enjoyed it.
“You are running in, your heartbeat is 180-plus. My body temperature would be 102-103 when bowling. That temperature, you would go to hospital”
Why did you hug Gary Kirsten after you hit him in a Test match in 2003 and before he could even fall to the ground?
I felt bad. He was a friend of mine. In 1995, I played a four-day game against Gary Kirsten’s side, and I went up to him and said, “Do you think I can be Waqar one day?” I hadn’t made my debut then. He said yes. In broken English I asked him again, “Do you think I have it?” He said yes, I had it.
What is the difference between loving to hit people and not enjoying it?
If I can’t get them out, then I would love to hit them. If I could get them out, I didn’t want to hit them. If someone was getting on top of me, like the Australians often did, I liked to go after them. They always encouraged me to bowl faster. That’s why I loved Australia. They always give it back to you.
Talking of Australia, that Test in Sharjah, Matthew Hayden said that it was like sitting outside an oven with a fan blowing all the heat towards you. Pakistan were bowled out for 59, but you still bowled that quick spell with nothing to win at all. Where did that come from?
The battle within the battle. You start your own battles. When your team is down and out, you then want to see how good you are as an individual, as a human. I am always driven by a passion. If there is no passion, I am half the man I am.
You bowled two bouncers to Hayden, and then bowled him with a full ball [in Australia]. When do you know that the bouncer has done its work and now is the time to bowl a full, quick one?
I used to check their footwork. Hayden was charging at me. I bowled a couple of bouncers, and I could see his feet were not charging at me. I knew that. I trapped him.
When you are bowling the bouncer, sprinting in, twisting your own body, following through, can you keep an eye on the footwork?
You could tell from where he ended. Also, I had two designated fielders who are telling me everything about how he is playing. Because when you are bowling so fast, you don’t tend to think that much. So you have designated fielders. And you have fielders to look after the ball.
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“You learn all this swing, seam and bouncers later. The first thing you want to do is to hear the ball on the stumps” © AFP
How much of a high is it to know that the batsman is afraid of you?
The high was not the fear. The high was that I was able to bowl quicker than anyone else. On a good day I can do almost anything. That was the high. I can hit people at will. I can get people out at will. I can fool around with them at will.
What about the days when you couldn’t do that?
Frustrating days. But that was a learning curve. I used to learn. If I can’t get [Virender] Sehwag out, I must find out ways to get him out in the next Test. And I developed that delivery that I used to slide across the crease and then push inwards in the air, and he used to commit to playing it, but the ball left him. I found that method.
That’s one of the most difficult balls to bowl. How did you learn it?
I learned. I kept it in my mind. I used to practise this in the nets. I used to lock my wrist, the outswing wrist. I knew I couldn’t play with it with my fingers because I wasn’t like Wasim[Akram] or Waqar. They were much superior than I was. I developed a method of locking my wrist. I used to lock the wrist and I used to use the crease. If you bowl from close to the stumps, the batsman had room to play if it left him from middle and off. So what I did was slide away from the stumps, I used to bowl from the middle [of the crease] and found out that even that was manageable for the batsman. So I would slide even further, right to the edge of the crease, push the ball in, have them play for the angle, and then get the ball to leave them. Most of the times I got Sachin [Tendulkar] out like that.