Former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar is widely recognized for his thrilling pace and incredible ability to bowl consistently at 150 kmph. The right-armer has a long history of terrifying batsmen across all the teams simply by his long run-up, bulk physique and unreal speed.
Akhtar has in fact broken quite a few helmets and hardly allowed batsmen to dominate him. The ‘Rawalpindi Express’ has built his image in such a manner that batsmen used to think twice before coming on to the front foot while facing Shoaib.
However, there was an instance when Akhtar was given a taste of his own medicine. It all happened in the Cricket All-Stars Series in 2015, which took place in the United States of America (USA). Akhtar was a member of Sachin’s Blasters side. During the second match of the series, Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who was representing Shane Warne’s Warrior team, surprised Akhtar with a furious bouncer.
In the game, Tendulkar’s team was chasing 263 and there, Akhtar got a chance to face Symonds, who was bowling off-spin. However, Symonds came up with a shocker and bowled a brutal bouncer. Interestingly Akhtar was not wearing a helmet, but he was lucky as the ball missed his head by an inch.
The wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara was also left surprised with the bounce of the delivery as it ended up reaching the boundary line. Remembering the incident, Akhtar uploaded the video on his official Instagram account and said how he always felt nervous while batting.
“My nervous batting moments continued even post-retirement. Lol,” the former pacer captioned the video.
The legendary Pakistani paceman last appeared for his nation in the 2011 World Cup where Pakistan lost the semi-final contest against India in Mohali. However, after his retirement, Akhtar has been very active in his YouTube channel where he drops his views on several trending topics related to the captivating game.
Speaking about the bouncers, then recently, Akhtar had recalled the 2006 Test in Faisalabad where he troubled iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Akhtar had revealed that he knew that Tendulkar was struggling with an elbow injury, so he decided to launch a barrage of bouncers at ‘Master Blaster’.
“But I used to work him out. I used to know where Sachin was injured. In Faisalabad (2006) Test, I knew he had an elbow injury, and I knew he couldn’t hook or pull the ball, so I kept bowling bouncers at him,” Akhtar had said.
