Controversial speedster Shoaib Akhtar has provided an insight into infighting that has always dogged Pakistan cricket team, recalling how greats like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were at loggerheads.
In his tell-all autobiography, 'Controversially Yours', Shoaib described in detail the tension in the dressing room caused at one stage by a feud between Wasim and Waqar. The pacer also claimed that senior players ganged up against him in his debut Test leaving him demoralised.
The feud between Wasim and Waqar took place prior to the Asian Test Championship match in Kolkata (1999) that led to his selection for the Eden Test.
"...Meanwhile, we lost the Delhi Test and Wasim got into an argument with Waqar. It got so bad that rumour started doing rounds that Waqar was to be sent back home," the bowler writes.
"But the entire squad left for Kolkata for the first Test of the Championship. Inside the dressing room, things got uglier. I do not remember it but ever being as tense as it was then," he revealed.
"The two seniors were at war and we were a young and fresh team. Everyone was stressed out and amidst all this, it was decided that I would play."
He alleged that some Pakistan players "ganged up" against him during his debut Test match against the West Indies in Rawalpindi back in 1997.
"What can I tell you about my first Test match! The one I had prepared for all my life. Wasim Akram was the captain and he told the board he wouldn't play Shoaib come what may," he claimed.
"Perhaps he wished to continue with the previous team because he was satisfied with its performance or perhaps he didn't want to encourage the emergence of new fast bowler."
Shoaib recollected his first day in international cricket when his own teammates weren't exactly cordial with him.
"We were to field first and I nervously got ready to go out on to the ground. The atmosphere in the dressing room was horrible; the rest of the team ganged up against me and made things as uncomfortable as they possibly could, peppering every phrase aimed at me with abuses," he alleged.
"The result was that I felt messed up and terribly unsure of myself. This feeling heightened as the day wore on and I wasn't asked to bowl even once. I did get my first chance after lunch and got two wickets, but I knew that I had under-performed.
"I just couldn't shake off the tension that had built up in me, and as a result I bowled far below my own standards.I remember feeling that perhaps I wasn't good enough to play at this level. I was completely demoralized and my dreams seemed to lie shattered around me," he recalled.
The controversial pacer then spoke about his spat with the then captain Waqar during the 2003 World Cup where Pakistan couldn't even make it to the last four stage.
Even though I have taken a fiver against Kenya and wickets in almost all the matches, that we played, it was not enough for us to win the Cup. The dressing room reflected what was happening to us on the field. Tempers were short and fights and squabbles kept breaking out. (PTI)
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