Shoaib Akhtar recalls a scary prediction made by a doctor when he was a child. Akhtar revealed that he has had 42 injections in his left knee, as well as nine surgeries.
Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar was a nightmare for batters during his playing days as one of the game’s fastest bowlers. The right-arm speedster still holds the record for the fastest ball in international cricket, 161.3 kmph. However, Akhtar’s path to stardom was far from smooth. In fact, he couldn’t walk until he was six years old.
Akhtar’s international wicket total of 444 even higher if he hadn’t been plague by injuries throughout his career. In a recent interview, the 46-year-old revealed that he has had 42 injections in his left knee, as well as nine operations. Akhtar, known as the Rawalpindi Express, also reveal that when he was a child, a doctor told his mother that he would not be able to run like normal children.
Shoaib Akhtar: I used to hide my injuries.
The doctor even predicted that Akhtar would grow up to be a ‘half-disabled’ boy. “I couldn’t walk until I was six years old.” I used to crawl around. ‘Listen, this guy will be half-disabled,’ the doctor always told my mother. “He won’t be able to run like normal guys,” Akhtar said recently in an interview with the Australian newspaper ‘The Age.’ Akhtar went on to say that he would frequently fall asleep in a “ice bath.”
“My knees became bone on bone as a result of the injuries.” Consider the agony I endured. It was dreadful, man. I used to [drown] in an ice bath. Many times, teammates would wake me up and say, ‘It’s four o’clock in the morning, get out and get in bed.’ I used to try to conceal my injuries. There was stiff competition, and the media couldn’t understand why I didn’t play on a regular basis,” Akhtar explained.
Despite these obstacles, Akhtar went on to become a formidable force in international cricket. His breathtaking spells propelled Pakistan to a slew of victories across multiple formats. While he retired from international cricket in 2011, the talismanic cricketer remains in the news due to his daring and controversial statements.
Also Read: Women’s World Cup: Pakistan defeated the West Indies to claim their first victory.