Turned Down A 175,000-Pound County Contract To Fight Kargil War, Claims Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar has claimed that he was ready to sacrifice his life for his nation as had turned down a 175,000-pound county contract to participate in the Kargil war against India in 1999.

Photo: AFP

Pakistan cricket team's former star paceman Shoaib Akhtar is considered to be the fastest Pakistani bowler of all time and has played all formats of the game in a great career that spanned for over fourteen years career. Akhtar has been involved in many controversies during his career and now even after his retirement, he never shies away from giving some bold and unbelievable statements.

Now, making yet another unbelievable remark, Akhtar has claimed that he was ready to sacrifice his life for his nation as had turned down a 175,000-pound county contract with Nottinghamshire so that he could participate in the Kargil war against India in 1999.

Codenamed 'Operation Vijay', the Kargil war was fought at an altitude of around 16,000 feet where soldiers of both countries lost their

"People hardly know about this story. I had a 175,000-pound contract with Nottingham. Then in 2002, I had another big contract. I left both when Kargil happened," Akhtar said in an interview to Pakistan's ARY News.

"I stood on the outskirts of Lahore. A general asked me what I'm doing there. I said war is about to start and we'll die together. I left county (cricket) twice like this and the counties were shocked. I wasn't concerned about that. I called up my friends in Kashmir and told them I am ready to fight," he added.

On Sunday, reacting to Sehwag's 'Baap Baap Hota Hai' claim, Akhtar in a tweet on Sunday said that Sehwag would have had no place to run if he had said something like that to him.

“Woh tera baap khada hai wo non-striking end pe, uss ko bol woh mar ke dikhayega. Non-striker end pe Tendulkar tha. Next over mai jab usne Tendulkar ko bouncer mara toh usne chakka mara, maine kaha beta beta hota hai aur baap baap hota hai,” Sehwag had told host Shah Rukh Khan in an award show which was attended by both Indian and Pakistani players.

In a recent interview, Akhtar said: “Would he survive after saying something like that to me? Would I leave him? I would beat him up at the ground and then at the hotel. The story has been made up”.