Shoaib Akhtar Lashes Out At ICC, Strongly Believes Apex Cricket Body "Successfully Finished" Cricket In Last 10 Years

Akhtar levied sharp in his criticism on the ICC after Manjrekar asked for his opinion on a growing trend that fast bowlers are going a bit slow in limited overs games, especially T20s.

Photo: You Tube (Shoaib Akhtar)

Pakistan's former tearaway speedster Shoaib Akhtar has lashed out at the International Cricket Council (ICC) by saying that the apex world body had "successfully finished" cricket in the last 10 years and brought the sport down to its knees. Akhtar known for his blunt and straight talk hit out hard at the ICC during a conversation with Sanjay Manjrekar for ESPNcricinfo's podcast. He expressed his anguish and displeasure at some of the playing conditions in white ball cricket, which as per him made it a game only for the batsmen. Akhtar was sharp in his criticism after Manjrekar asked for his opinion on a growing trend that fast bowlers are going a bit slow in limited overs games, especially T20s, while spinners are bowling faster. "Can I tell you something bluntly? They (ICC) are finishing the cricket. I am openly saying that in last 10 years, ICC has successfully finished cricket, and I would say job well done guys. Jo socha thaa apne woh kiya (You did what you intended to)," Akhtar said in his trademark style. Akhtar feels that the number of bouncers per over should be increased as there are two new balls and only four fielders outside the circle for the better part of an ODI game. "I have been saying repeatedly that change bouncer rule (one per over). You have two new balls and four fielders outside. Please ask ICC whether in last 10 years, quality of cricket has gone up or gone down. Where are those Sachin versus Shoaib contests?" Giving his take about Tendulkar, Akhtar said that he is one with whom he never got aggressive, as there was a lot of respect for the world's best batsman. "But yes, I would try to out-think him. Like in the 2006 tour of Pakistan, I knew he had tennis elbow problems and he can't hook or pull me, so I bowled a barrage of bouncers to keep him quiet," Akhtar said. Talking about pull shots, the speed merchant said that when he was at the peaks of his prowess even Virat Kohli would have found it difficult to play that shot against him because of his express pace.