There was a time when fellows like legendary Waqar Younis, Ian Bishop and Allan Donald were in a dog fight to become the world's fastest bowler. All of them were almost equally quick. This thing continued till the debut of a boy who emerged from Rawalpindi, Pakistan in December 1997 and in no time he left these big names far behind as far as the race of being called the fastest bowler of the world is concerned.
He was named as ''The Rawalpindi Express''by his fans. He is, yet another genius from the Pace factory that is Pakistan. He became the first bowler to achieve the mile stone of bowling 100 miles per hour and still none of the other fast bowlers of the world have reached it.That was the time when everyone from a young boy to an old man used to wear T-Shirts with Shoaib’s name and picture on it.
Young lads used to copy his hair style, his bowling action, his dressing etc. He is known as an angry young man from day one of his career. Some of my friends, who have played first class cricket in Pakistan and played against him, said that he is a monster and is just like a power house. The glimpse of his aggression also reflects in his personality out of the field which also is a reason of his decline and made his career full of controversies which affected his career badly.
For example, his issues with the late coach of Pakistan team, Bob Woolmer and a fight with his fellow fast bowler Mohammad Asif when he hit him with a bat. He faced many fines and many other punishments for those acts. Shoaib had many fitness problems during his career which also affected his career badly. Sometimes I think if Shoaib would have played like all other players without controversies and by maintaining better fitness level, he surely would have been one of the greatest Pakistani paceman.
Something about his stats caught my eye which very few people know. His record as an opening bowler is relatively much weaker than an old ball bowler. He averages 27.48when he comes to ball as the opening bowler, which is not that good. If he bowls as the 2nd bowler, his average is 24.84which is good but not that great but if we have a look at his stats at position of number 3 and 4, they are just remarkable. As first change bowler his average is 21.61 which is outstanding and as 2nd change bowler he is the best ever of Pakistan has ever produced at an average of 15.84 which is just like dream for a bowler at international level.
May be he is also the one of many Pakistani cricketers who failed to identify their strong points. Sometimes I think about him that if he had played regularly and used to bowl as first or second change consistently, he might have been even bigger name than Imran Khan and the 2 W’s.
He is now 35 years old at the end of his career but still his speed is in mid-nineties which is awesome but the thing which has now became a worry is that he is tired after 1 or 2 overs. At his peak we have witnessed that big names of cricket batting history used to struggle against him but now a day’s he is even hammered by domestic level or club level batsmen.
His performance against the 2nd strength side of Somerset was alarming for Pakistan cricket as he is a key figure for Pakistan for the upcoming world cup, especially considering the fact that Amir and Asif's positions are doubtful after the spot fixing scandal. Now almost all his fans have disappeared and the same people who used to love him are now ignoring him, neglecting him and even criticizing him.
You can say the real face of the world is now right before his eyes and he is trying to get the same status back which seems almost an impossible thing to achieve his stardom now, but nobody knows what can happen next moment with the Rawalpindi Express. May be he will give tremendous performance like Glenn McGrath did in his last world cup or he could be a total flop. We can just hope that he achieves the best fitness level ever to give his 100% for his country and prove his critics wrong who claim that he is finished now.
We know 180 million people are praying for him, can he end his career with a final hurrah with a World Cup win? Let us wait and watch..!!
