Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar tells ESPN-STAR Sports he wants to do an Imran Khan.
By Soumitra Bose in Colombo
Shoaib Akhtar has been a much sought after man ever since he announced his retirement from cricket on Thursday. He seems to have taken a big load off his chest and was in great mood when he spoke to ESPN-STAR Sports in an exclusive interview at the Hilton in Colombo on Friday evening. A 15-minute chat actually extended to an hour! Excerpts:
You have called your retirement as your first death?
Yes, absolutely. I am surrounded by some sort of emptiness and sadness. For 20 years, I have fought to play cricket. I fought injuries, I fought against so many things. Now I have decided to leave something I loved. It hurts.
How have you planned your life beyond cricket?
My real life begins now, the life away from the spotlight. There are so many things that I want to do now. I want to leave my mark on the common man. I want to build a hospital in Islamabad... somewhere in the remote hills where no one can imagine. I will lay the first brink and then God will help me do the rest.
You mean Shoaib Akhtar will do an Imran Khan?
Yes, something like that. What Imran has done is unimaginable. People call him a cricketer-turned-politician, but I call him a revolutionary, a visionary. When you step in his cancer hospital, you get the feel of what he has done. I want to emulate him.
You must have missed Imran Khan as a cricketer?
Yes, of course. He was like a father figure. I have missed him badly. If he would have been there, I would have become a better bowler and a better person, may be.
You were quite an anti-establishment man?
The system made me quite an anti-establishment fellow. Ever since I started playing cricket, I was told that I wasn't good enough. Whether at the club level or national or international level, I was told I was never good enough. That made me more determined. My system refused to swim with the tide. I was exactly the opposite. In spite of this, I have played cricket with my head held high. No one say I have compromised myself when playing for Pakistan. Have you ever seen that I been linked with match fixing?
You have had five knee operations and yet made a comeback to the World Cup squad. That's amazing.
There have been days when five syringes would be inserted on each of my knees to draw out fluid. I would scream with pain because my knees would be swollen like melons and I would feel that someone was ripping off my thigh muscles. But next day, I would go there and fire the ball at close to 150 kmph or more. That's Shoaib Akhtar for you. There were two Shoaib Akhtars in me. One that told me to ‘give up cricket' and the other one that said ‘conquer the odds'. The second one always prevailed. It's because of this today I am playing the World Cup.
You never mentioned Sachin Tendulkar as one of the toughest batsmen to bowl to.
Yes, that's true. But that doesn't mean I have no respect for Sachin. He is a legend and will always remain as one. But Sachin would never scare me. Guys like Gilchrist and Lara would scare the hell out of me. Gilchrist would simply take me on. Lara was class apart. In fact, I would be so attracted to his persona that I wouldn't know where to bowl...His body-language was just too cool!
