The game of cricket is basically a rivalry between the bat and ball. Although the game is tilted towards the batsmen, there were times when bowlers could have the upper hand and pushed batsmen on to the backfoot with either their pace, swing or spin. A super-fit fast bowler running down to deliver the ball at a great pace is always one of the most beautiful images of this cricket.
Since the days of ‘The Demon’ Spofforth in 19th century the cricket fans have been fascinated by these pace-merchants time to time.
There was a sudden growth of super quick fast bowlers during the last few years of the 20th century and in the beginning of 21st century. It all started with today’s birthday boy Shoaib Akhtar and the trend was followed by Brett Lee, Shane Bond, Shaun Tait, Fidel Edwards and others. These bowlers were superbly talented and mostly had control over the batsmen all over the world with their raw pace.
Shoaib was born on this day in 1975 in a town near Rawalpindi which is why he is called ‘Rawalpindi Express’. Like many youngsters in Pakistan cricket he burst into scene from relative obscurity. His first eight Tests were not that successful. But then he was included in the Asian Test Championship match against India at the Eden Gardens and became a folklore hero with his two deadly inswingers to get Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar dismissed on back to back deliveries. Akhtar finished the match with eight wickets and registered a famous win for his team. This was the turning point of his career and he never looked back.
There were some very exciting and very quick spells from Akhtar in both Tests and ODI cricket during those early 2000 days and in this process, he also became the first bowler to record the speed of 100 miles per hour. With more experience he also developed a deadly slower delivery which was almost unplayable for the batsmen round the over. However, his form started to dip from 2006 and multiple injuries and many controversies started to have a toll on his career. He played his last Test in Bangalore against India in 2007 and although he continued to play ODIs and T20 Internationals that spark was gone.
Even after retirement, Shoaib is still connected to the game as an expert in TV shows and other media. He still maintains his straight forward views about Pakistan and world cricket which gives birth to controversies time to time.