By Denzil Fernandes
Daijiworld Media Network
Dubai, Sep 25: The express bowler from Pakistan Shoaib Akhtar who rose and fell like nine pins while playing for Pakistan is determined to raise his head even in his grave ! It seems so when you flip through the pages of a cricket book written by him under the title “Controversially Yours”. As you run through the story, one can quickly conclude that this is a story purely written to sell not in the streets of Rawalpindi but certainly in the metros of modern India.
Everyone knows that India’s cricket crazy population is ready to pick anything that can make juicy reading.
You actually cannot blame the marketing gimmick adopted by Shoaib Akhtar to sell his book. He has targeted some of India’s most popular cricketers and given them a licking if one may say so. Picking up on master batsman Tendulkar, Shoaib has claimed that he was afraid of his bowling. Further on, he said that Dravid was unable to finish and win any matches. “They are not match winners” proclaimed Shoaib Akhtar in his book about Tendulkar and Dravid.
He does not stop there. Recalling his days while playing for Kolkata Knightriders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Shoaib says that both IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and owner Shah Rakh Khan (SRK) cheated him on his payments and tricked him into playing for the Kolkata team. While playing in the IPL Shoaib had fondly called SRK as his ‘loving brother’. Just when the book was being launched SRK has suddenly become a villain from hero.
The thick skinned and long haired Shoaib Akhtar was never a regular for the Pakistan side. Often plaugued by injuries due to being unfit, the Pakistan selectors wanted him to be thrown out of the team for poor disciplinary record and fitness also. There were times when Shoaib would break down during an important match and become a liability for the team. In fact, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wanted him to be kept away from the national team for various reasons insisting that he was a failure for the country’s team. Except for his blistering pace with no control whatsoever, all cricket pundits felt that he was a total waste. Added to that was his poor behaviour on the field especially at the opposing batsmen which no one even in his team and country liked.
With retirement from active cricket, writing a controversial book was a great option indeed. Shoaib Akhtar did not waste time and what one reads in ‘Controversially Yours’ is unbelievable stuff simply for the sake of selling the book. However, in the long run, the book will create more problems for Pakistan cricket one feels.
Calling the retired fast bowler "a mad cap", Pakistan Cricket Board ( PCB) chief Ijaz Butt condemned Akhtar's plans to launch his book in India and seek "cheap publicity" by taking a jibe at Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. “The book will further disrupt our relations with India” he says "We are trying so hard to bridge the gap with India. In these times such bullshit is totally uncalled for," said Butt. Butt, who called Akhtar an "attention-seeker", questioned his love for cricket and vowed to take action against the former speedster shortly.
Pakistan’s ‘king of swing’ Wasim Akram has called Shoaib a permanent problem for Pakistan cricket. “He was a problem when he was in the team and he is a problem when he is out of the team," Akram said. Shoaib claimed that Wasim was not in favour of him being in the team.
Shoaib targeted the Indians most as he launched his controversial book. While agreeing that his teammates fought in the dressing room regularly he went on to add that "But thank God, we atleast fought in the dressing rooms but your Harbhajan Singh slapped someone in the open," he said in jest referring to the off-spinner's infamous slap on Sreesanth.
Sachin Tendulkar quickly said that it was below his dignity to comment on the statements made in the book. Spinner Harbhajan Singh when told about the controversial book laughed it off saying that Shoaib was adopting unfair means to sell his book.
Always a controversial figure in Pakistan cricket due to his ball tampering and bad temper, Shoaib Akhtar was termed as the ‘bad boy’ of Pakistan cricket. The PCB too disciplined and warned the bowler repeatedly and sighed a big relief once he retired.
Now that Shoaib Akhtar has retired, he could not find a better way than writing down his memoirs in the same fashion as he behaved on the cricket field and quite appropriately naming the book as “Controversially Yours”.
How many will go through the edition and hit the bowler out of the ground is very easy to guess.
In the end, one believes that Shoaib has done more harm than good for Indo-Pak cricket relations with “Controversially Yours”. The “Rawalpindi Express” may soon be running for cover !