(Reuters) – Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar will retire from international cricket after the World Cup, closing one of the most colourful careers in the sport.
Here are some key facts about Akhtar nicknamed the Rawalpindi Express:
* EARLY LIFE AND CAREER: — Born in Aug. 1975 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
— He made his test debut against the West Indies at Rawalpindi in 1997.
— Widely recognised as the fastest bowler in the world, his fastest recorded delivery reached 161.4km/h.
— His bowling skills include fast yorkers, swinging deliveries; reverse swing and sharp bouncers.
— However, he has suffered from hyperextension of his joints, which creates the optical illusion of throwing. Shoaib’s action was cleared by the ICC in 2001.
— Shoaib demonstrated his first outstanding bowling appearance in the pre-World Cup series against India in 1999 when he took eight wickets in the Asian Test Championship in Calcutta, bowling Rahul Dravid then yorking Sachin Tendulkar next ball.
— He was a huge draw at the 1999 World Cup in England where he took 16 wickets as Pakistan reached the final.
— He missed Pakistan’s test series against England in 2006 but returned for the one-dayers in devastating fashion, taking nine wickets at 18.66.
— The injury-prone Shoaib was left out of the squad for the five-match one-day series in Sri Lanka in 2009 as well as the Champions Trophy probables, raising doubts about his future. — Shoaib has played in 46 tests and 163 one-day internationals. He has taken 178 test wickets and 247 one-day international wickets.
* DISIPLINE PROBLEMS:
— At the start of his career in 1996 he took 25 wickets on the Pakistan A team’s tour to England. However, the Pakistan manager reported him for indiscipline and he was dropped from the Pakistan one-day squad going to Toronto.
— In 2003 he was dropped from the Pakistan team after the World Cup and the PCB chairman told him his career was finished if he did not improve his behaviour and discipline.
— The next year he was disciplined by match referees in Australia for rude gestures against Australian batsmen in the tests.
— In 2006, he was banned for two years after testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone — an anabolic steroid — in an internal drugs test carried out by the PCB. A three-man appeals tribunal later cleared him of doping offences.
— In 2007 he had a dressing room spat with coach Bob Woolmer during the second test at Port Elizabeth against South Africa caught by television screens. He was withdrawn from Pakistan’s World Cup squad hours before the team prepared to fly out to the West Indies. In the same year in August he was fined by the team manager and board for leaving a training camp in Karachi.
