The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Akhtar fumes in anger

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Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007
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Sport - Cricket

Akhtar fumes in anger

Karachi: Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar spent a frustrating day during the practice match between the probables for the Twenty20 World Cup and ended up venting his anger on a window pane in the National Stadium dressing room.

Shoaib was upset at being hit all over by young batsmen Khurrum Manzoor and Khalid Latif and later by Pakistani openers Salman Butt and Imran Nazir.

Worse still, the mercurial bowler also offended the national selectors present at the ground, by playing in shorts.

Shoaib came off the field after first bowling three overs in the first innings and then four in the second innings.

Beamer

At one stage, Shoaib was so upset with the manner in which the batsmen hit fours and sixes off him that he bowled a beamer at Latif who hooked him for a six after having taken three fours in a previous over.

In the second session, Butt and Nazir also showed no mercy and Shoaib chose to walk off complaining of dehydration and exhaustion in the warm weather after conceding 44 runs in four overs.

On coming back to the dressing room, he vented his frustration by kicking at a window pane which cracked in the middle. After that the fast bowler, who has played just one Test and four one-dayers in the last 15 months due to fitness problems, sat sulking and refused to speak to the media despite a request from manager Talat Ali.

Chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed, clearly upset at Shoaib’s attitude, vented his anger at young Khurrum Manzoor, who was given a dressing down for showing dissent against an umpire’s decision.

Shoaib’s behaviour and his failure to play on Sunday raised many questions about his fitness but Talat insisted that the pacer was fine and was being rested before a hectic international season.

“It was hot, very humid and he got dehydrated. We gave him water and time to recover. He was a little dizzy because of the dehydration but he was fine after a cold shower and lots of water,” he explained.

The selectors and management have already revised the match schedule in the Karachi training camp to avoid burnout among the players. — PTI

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