Mellowed Akhtar plays big brother

Abu Dhabi: Rarely do you have a star player opting out of the playing eleven simply because he did not want to break an already existing winning combination.

Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who has often been accused of being an unsporting player, painted a different picture during the just-concluded Fortune Cup.

It is alleged that he has time and again let his team down, bowling short spells citing injuries. He also has a record of not getting along with his captains and board officials.

But his sporting spirit and sense of responsibility shocked everyone before the last match of the Fortune Cup.

Akhtar was unfit for the first two games due to a calf injury; although he was fit for the third match, he opted to stay out not wanting to drop any of the pacers to make way for him.

Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malek disclosed this when he was asked as to why a replacement for Akhtar was not sought immediately when it was clear that he was not fit for the series.

Malek was questioned on why the speedster was retained in the team as a mere passenger blocking chances of a young budding fast bowler.

"Akhtar had really worked hard after recovering from his calf muscle injury. He even told us he was ready to play the third match. However, in the second match, all the three pacers Sohail Tanvir, Rao Ifthikar Anjum and Umar Gul bowled very well and helped us win the match. So it was tough to drop any of them. Akthar sportingly told me that it would be unfair on them if he was included," remarked Malek.

The skipper also considered it to be a good sign for Pakistan that a senior player like Akhtar, one of the assets of Pakistan cricket, comes up and suggests that he should stick on with the same bowlers.

Spectators who turned up early for the third match did see Akhtar bowl at full pace at a single stump before the start.

False hopes

That raised hopes of seeing the world's fastest bowler in action during the match.

But they were all in for a shock when Akhtar's name was missing from the final eleven.

Angry at Akhtar not playing the first two matches, some leading Pakistan newspapers alleged that he had come to Abu Dhabi carrying an injury.

Some have even stated that young promising pacers like Anwar Ali, Mohammad Aamer or Mohammad Talha should have been included in his place.