The Britney Spears of Pakistan

Pakistan does not have people like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton but we too need people who can fill in the air time of a million and half local channels and become tabloid fodder. In Pakistan, cricketers tend to do that. Anything to do with Pakistan cricket, whether it is Muhammed Yousuf’s ICL/IPL saga, to Shoaib Malik’s shadi/no shadi to Javed Miandad’s son marrying the daughter of ‘The Don’ to everything Shoaib Akhtar ever does.

If you ask my opinion, Shoaib Akhtar has become the Britney Spears of Pakistan – notorious, good for nothing and always in the news for wrong reasons. Some of the blame lies with the PCB's lack of management skills at managing a volatile creature but then after 11, years, no one can have the energy to even attempt at managing Shoaib. He was always more interested in off field antics and hogging the limelight than doing his job.

In my personal opinion, this ban is long over due. Shoaib has made a mockery of cricket, the country and of course, himself. I am amazed at public amnesia that people are making a hero out of him. Even if we forget all his past transgressions like indiscipline, and drug intake, attacking his own team mate was unforgivable and he should have been banned for life back then. One should also not forget that he was involved in physical altercation with former coach Bob Woolmer and passed racist remarks against Paul Adams. If Pakistanis have issues with Darrel Hair, they should publicly question Shoaib’s racist behaviour as well. He has repeatedly defied Pakistani cricket authorities for which he has no justification. Even if the current board is inefficient, that is by no means any justification for his actions.

Good riddence, I say. This decision is few years too late. PCB may be a joke, but I fully agree with their stand for once. Given the soap opera like political situation of this country and ever more soap operasque cricket board and they way PML-N MNA from Rawalpindi, Mr Hanif Abbasi vowed revenge against “Musharraf’s henchman” (he meant Dr. Nasim Ashraf), Shoaib will paddle back to play another match or two and then get embroiled in something else, that has been the pattern for as long as i can remember.

This cat has more than nine lives.


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Chronology of disciplinary actions taken against Shoaib Akhtar taken by ICC and PCB, it should be noted that he has had problems even before he was picked to play for the national side and this does not count the incidents where he was just warned or reprimanded.


Sept 1997: Dropped from Pakistan one-day squad for a series in Toronto on the basis of tour manager’s report of an earlier visit to England by the ‘A’ team.

Dec 1999: Banned for illegal bowling action.

Feb 2000: Banned for a Test and fined Rs50,000 ($1,800) after breaching players’ code of conduct on tour of Australia.

Jan 2001: Banned for illegal bowling action for a second time.

Nov 2002: Fined 50 percent of match fee, banned for one One-day International for throwing a bottle into crowd during a Test in Zimbabwe.

Dec 2002: Suspended one-Test ban for ball tampering.

May 2003: Banned for two ODIs and fined 75 percent of match fee for ball tampering during a tri-series match in Sri Lanka.

Oct 2003: Banned for one Test and two ODIs for using obscene and offensive language towards South African Paul Adams in Lahore Test.

Dec 2004: Fined 40 percent of match fee for taunting batsman during Test in Australia.

Jan 2005: Fined 25 percent of match fee for excessive appealing in ODI in Australia.

Oct 2006: Banned for two years for testing positive for nandrolone. Ban lifted on appeal two months later.

Aug 2007: Fined $5,000 for leaving training camp without permission. Fine suspended on appeal.

Oct 2007: Banned for 13 international matches and fined Rs3.4 million ($120,300) for four breaches of discipline including striking team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat before World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa. Also put on two-year probation.

April 2008: Banned for five years by PCB for violating code of conduct while under probation period.