The bad boy of Pakistan cricket, Shoaib Akhtar faced the biggest jolt of his bumpy career. With the five-year ban imposed on Shoaib Akhtar, no doubt an era is going to get finished. The world’s fasted bowler has been the most controversial player as his eleven-year career has been plagued by injuries, discipline problems and a doping scandal in 2007.

Having said that, don’t you think Shoaib Akhtar has been treated a bit harshly? I know people would come up with variety of statements that he had done so many things to tarnish the image of Pakistan but has not the Pakistan cricket history witnessed any such incidents before? In fact in the early 90s our four top players were caught at the beach in the West Indies doing something which was more than enough to tarnish rather damage the image of Pakistan, but what happened? The matter was properly managed. Later quarrels in the dressing room were frequent but nothing was blown up in the fashion Shoaib-Asif-Shahid bat-hitting saga was taken up. I heard Wasim Akram’s comments after the bat-hitting controversy, that in his time also, such events used to happen but there were managed properly hence remained behind closed door.

The chairman while announcing the ban said that “the board has lost confidence in Shoaib Akhtar and therefore felt that his presence in the field was damaging to the Pakistan team, for Pakistan players and for the image of Pakistan cricket"

What have Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria done in the first place? They actually raised questions about the recently awarded central contracts, I know they breached the code-of-conduct, but the PCB management should share a little blame as well, especially in Kaneria’s case who was demoted from the category B to C. While Shoaib Akhtar was offered a special retainer deal, which he refused to sign. The contracts were given on the past six-month performances and the show put up by Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar was reasonably good in the last six months of the year 2007. The leg spinner, played 5 test matches and claimed 22 wickets, while the Rawalpindi Express took 9 wickets in 4 test matches he played. On the other hand few other players were either retained or promoted despite of their not-so-satisfactory performances, such as wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, whose form behind the wickets has not been even close to a satisfactory one, yet he was retained in Category “B”. Another fellow is fast bowler Muhammad Asif who is no doubt a good bowler but in view of his performance in the last six months of 2007, if he is retained then this is question for the PCB to answer. Asif played only 2 test matches (the home series against South Africa), bowled 70 overs and claimed 2 wickets.

Now, if Danish has raised concern then what was wrong with it? I urge the authorities to also look into the mechanism of awarding the central contact to the players. The case of the 32-year-old Akhtar was a bit bleak because he was already under a two year' probation for hitting a team-mate with a bat. One interesting bit that came to the forefront, is that since Shoaib Akhtar had not signed the central contract with the PCB hence the rules and regulation do not apply on him? The case has indeed become very interesting as Shoaib Akhtar has gained a lot of “political” weight behind him.

Apart from off-the-field affairs, Shoaib Akhtar who has taken 178 wickets in 46 Tests, while his ODI tally after playing 138 matches stands at 219, has been under criticism for his fitness as well. Well as far as “extra curriculum activities” are concerned, I see no reason to comment, as this has been happening in Pakistan cricket and Shoaib Akhtar is not the only one in Pakistan’s cricketing history. The second objection was regarding his frequent breakdowns, here we have to understand one thing that the Rawalpindi Express bowls with a very high speed which no doubt puts a lot of burden on his body hence his breakdowns are understandable and Shoaib Akhtar is not the only fast bowler who gets injured. The likes of Shane Bond, Brett Lee and few faster-men in yesteryears have had their career plagued with injuries. The fact of the matter is that he was surely not managed properly, nobody should expect Shoaib Akhtar to bowl non-stop. As far as his commitment to the team is concerned, he seemed very committed as he played with injury in the recent Indian tour as the team was in need, secondly he had also refused a hefty offer from the rebel Indian Cricket League, what does it show? I reiterate, he was not managed appropriately.

Now when Shoaib Akhtar has decided to go to the court of law then keep your fingers crossed and wait for the final outcome but by going to the court the image of the Pakistan cricket will surely be tarnished more than it was because of Shoaib Akhtar’s activities as the Chairman PCB claimed. Some political quarters also predicting that since the current PCB members would be removed from office, and the issue would be discussed in parliament. Such claims do give hope to the fans of Shoaib that he would make a come back. Let’s hope the outcome would be good for Pakistan’s cricket.

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