Spoiled Child or Mishandled Child?

Published in Frontier Post June 08 2008

By Emaad Qureshi Emaad.qureshi@gmail.com




“He will certainly perform in front of glamorized girls” These remarks are for Shoaib akhtar by our own Left arm wizard Waseem Akram in a recent interview on Sports Channel, when he was asked about expected performance of Shoaib akhtar in Upcoming twenty 20 championship (IPL) being played in India. There is no doubt about the bowling abilities of the star bowler Shoaib akhtar but in recent times he is among lot of controversies more than anything else.

If we go back in recent times we will see Shoaib Akhtar involved in so many controversies, more than any cricketer in the world. He was always involved in controversies throughout his career but in last 3 to 4 years we see him more involved in controversies than Cricket.

If we talk about the controversies, first it was during much hyped test series between Pakistan and India in 2004, when during last test he was accused of showing lack of commitment for his team when he was out there for bowling. Critics allege that he was not unfit, actually he was pretending to be. Nevertheless he was cleared by the medical board of Pakistan Cricket Board later. Then it was in January 2005 during all important Australian tour in which he was caught red-handed dancing in Nightclub with girls in Sydney. He was penalized this time on the grounds of indiscipline.





Next it was turn of Mohammad Asif along with Shoaib Akhtar ,both involved in most dangerous controversy of Pakistan’s cricket history. They have to return back from India when they both were tested positive for Performance enhancing Drug during dope tests conducted by Pakistan Cricket board. They were trailed by inquiry commission formed by Pakistan Cricket Board and banned for two years.Shoaib Akhtar & Mohammad Asif cleared later by Appellate Tribunal after hearing their appeals.

In January 2007 during test series against South Africa, it was in 2nd test when he performed really well and was instrumental in Pakistan’s win but again he faced lot of fitness problems, sent back to Pakistan. In that test at the end of Pakistan’s ist innings he was involved in heated debate with Late Bob Woolmer.

Then in September 2007 just before the ICC Twenty 20 world Cup in South Africa, he was again sent back to Pakistan. This time Shoaib akhtar was involved in a very funny incident, a childish fight with Mohammad Asif and Shahid Afridi.This time he was fined heavily but again cleared later.

In 2008 while giving interview to Newspaper he criticized very badly the Cricket board for not maintaining good standards of domestic cricket. This time he was again trialed in front of inquiry commission by Cricket Board and banned for 5 years from any type of cricket but allowed him to play for IPL( International Premier League), a Twenty 20 Cricket Tournament being played in India. His inquiry is still going on.

Question is Is he a spoiled or mishandled child, some people say he was not properly handled by the Cricket board but if we analyze very carefully then we will see that most of the times Shoaib akhtar was on fault, right from the dancing in nightclub to childish fight with Mohammad Asif. He has more germs of Spoiled Child.Now you will decide am i wrong or right??

Writer is Editor of Online Magazine “The Rise”