Shoaib Akhtar Wants Change In Pakistan team Culture

Controversial Fast Bowler Shoaib Akhtar Wants Change In Pakistan Dressing Room Culture
Submitted by Rohit Bhandiye on Mon, 2007-04-30 15:43.


Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Monday said there was a need to change the culture of the Pakistan team's dressing room with a captain who is honest and supportive of his players.

"My experience is that in the past instead of using me as a match winner some of the captains used to play matches with me," Shoaib said in an apparent reference to Inzamam-ul Haq with whom he never had a smooth relationship.

"When you have a captain who has an ego problem or is jealous of performances of other players then you have a major problem in the team. I think there is a need to change our dressing room culture," he said.

Shoaib said there was a need to have an honest captain.

"I may have disagreements with Imran Khan on some issues. But I have no doubt he was our best leader because he was honest and expected the same from his players. He also didn't have any jealousy factor with him," he said.

He lashed out at the players who complained of being forced to play in too much heat in the ongoing national training camp for the series against Sri Lanka to be played in Abu Dhabi.

"I think we need to change our method of training and practice. We need to learn to play on grass and stop making excuses. Because we are professionals and take money for playing," he said. Shoaib, however, said he had no problems with Shoaib Malik being made captain.

"He is like a younger brother to me and has always treated me with respect. All the younger players get along well with me. I have no issue in Malik being made the captain," he said.

Shoaib said it was time for things to move on in Pakistan cricket and a change in culture because except for a good home series against England the team had not won anything significant and it also played badly in the World Cup.

Shoaib, one of Pakistan's senior bowlers, paid rich tributes to Australia's Glenn McGrath, terming him as the best Test bowler.

"Wasim Akram was a good all-round bowler in Tests and One-dayers but McGrath was the best in Test matches."

He said to retire in a blaze of glory at the World Cup final was a dream come true for any player.

"To go out at your peak is something every cricketer wants to do. It is a dream come true
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For the first time i am seeing some truth and some sesible talks and suggestion by our speedster ...Making me proud the way he said he will support shaoib malik and i think akhtar is of a good character and goes along well who respects him..........

THANXS SHOAIB AKHTAR very glad to hear that from you


i hope you also bow out in a great passion beating Aussie's in home series next winter

Hai every body ,i am here ,i am here ,listen to me .I didn't go any where .

actions speak louder than words.

Its pretty rich that coming from him "we should make no excuses."

he isn't like your younger brother. he is your captain. it isn't good enough that you don't have a problem with Malik becoming captain. instead, you should be pledging your unconditional support to him. because you're right, you do get money for playing. so, yes just maybe you should behave like a professional?

and we can start the new culture of professionalism by stopping this nonsense about seniority coming from age.

and what's most ironic is that this "younger brother" and "he's my junior and I love my juniors" talk comes most from Afridi and Akhtar - two people who might look like men but are still children based on mental ability and attitude.

What does he mean by:

So we are going to see Shoaib doing what Imran once did...

There was a one-day game between Pakistan and India at Lahore...

However Imran Khans' close friend Emma Sergeant of Australia was in Peshawar working on a project about the Afghan Refugees Camps...

Now Imran Khan was Captain of the team and in the playing eleven, but stayed with Emma in Peshawar till early morning on the match in Lahore and took the flight to Lahore to reach there by 11AM....

Now match was to start at 9AM. and Zaheer went out to do the toss...

Thankfully: Pakistanis won the toss and elected to bat and then there was rain and match reduced to 33-Overs...

Imran sneaked in late around 12-Noon to join the team, but by that time Javed and Zaheer had already scored 100s...

Imran was so strong that PCB could do nothing against him: However when Shoaib does things outside cricket, he is ousted by PCB: So Shoaib is not the same as Imran...

Imran was fit, where as shoaib gets injured all the time. so cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Here we go again...Mr. Actor talking about others playing games with him!

The guy who took young Asif along on the ride and brought shame and bad name for the whole nation by taking dodgy 'Medicines' and brought an earlier end to our WC chance...is teaching us the values of hard work and all!

Laanat ho iss idiot per

This guy's big mouth has a really tough time staying shut.

I remember the last time he was fit and playing well (yes I really reallyyy have a good memory), in the England series at home, his quote was something to the effect of "we are playing well, dressing room is also very posstive, credit must go to captain."

changes his mind quite quickly does this guy. methinks someone has credibility issues to complement the character flaws.

I dont believe a single thing that comes of his mouth anymore.

He has to speak by his performance. I am not even willing to give him an ODI spot beyond the 20/20 Cup. He must only play tests, if he is fit enough to do so.

"We need to learn to play on grass "

Huh? Is that where we are going wrong? The Pakistani players train and work really hard on water but come matchday are bamboozeled because the sneaky Umpires opt to play on grass.

Or is it another narcotics reference from the famous drugs cheat?

...and hence the mention of grass


Now read the phrase 'Learn to play on Grass' with this new light being shed on the meaning

yeah get on the field and make the ball talk dude

It probably was meant to be translated as "play games with me".

No doubt he means green pitches. Bad writing from the journalist.

Mr Rohit Bhandiye It would have been appropriate if you could have also added his quote here too ...

and please include the link of the source of articles you are posting for verification, clarity and giving credit to them

Thats it shoaib right on mate

Shoaib is the man!

Well, I remember in Pak-Eng series (home series), he was all praise to Inzi and stated that dressing room atmosphere was very calm and there was strong bond amongst all the players and he did mention about praying........... Now all of a sudden 180 degree turn. You know guys what I think I have had enough of this bashing of Inzi, and relegion-oriented activites. We should not encourage these kinds of mouths, likes of Actor, Pyjama etc etc to make fun of relegion and use it as an execuse for their own mistakes. When these characters will grow up and act like adults???????????????????

I guess NEVER

and how many hours of cricket has he played since that series? you can count them on one hand. his opinion changes rather quickly doesnt it?

I still dont get his first statement

"in the past instead of using me as a match winner some of the captains used to play matches with me"

What DOES this mean??

I too want to know what he ment about this..

I think he means something like this:

Instead of letting him bowl at the TAIL enders to kill off crappy batsmen, Akhtar had to bowl at the top order and try hard??

He meant that the captains never used to respect him properly, didn't treat him as one of the team and therefore never got the best out of him.

I think the same.

Right on...



If Akhtar never got the respect of his captain...can anyone blame the captain when:

his star bowler decides to break down whenever he feels like it

gets caught with drugs in his system

back bites/whines/biaatches about his captain/team mates the minute he gets selected

shoves his foot in his own mouth at an instants notice, repeatedly

shows up every time (almost always), over weight and looking like World's first pregnant pakistani

on and on the list can go forever

Come on guys give the man a break. No one understands him like me, except for maybe Farhad. I love him and don't want to hear a hash - sorry that should be harsh (somehow those narcotics references keep slipping when talking about Shoaib) word against him.

or probably he meant "Instead of using me as a match winner they were looking for other match winners by cutting me aside"

By the way, Fakhar Alam is one lousy emotional moderator. He asks sometimes good question but then he throws like all the bunch of the questions on the guest and does not worry whether they answer them or not? like he never should Akhtar getting off the hook and explain what he meant here? what did he want, a special accolade from the captains?

Horse **** and nothing else Akhtar bhai, just let the ball talk and cut all sorts of crappy talking!

I really don't give a tosh of what this guy says anymore. His comments mean absolutely nothing if he is not going to last for more than one innings in a match. It is useless to bowl brilliantly in one innings, and then cower out in the second, it does our team no good.

If he is fit and keeping his mouth firmly shut, he is a great asset to cricket. But as things are right now, I don't really want him playing for Pakistan any time soon.

Ah!! What a piece of reporting. This guy is a true journalist.

Why the questions are not listed? Twisting words in translation is so easy.

Rather than attacking Akthar you guys need attack the messenger for this shoddy reporting.

We done thid so often, we just know the chance of AKthar saying something like this is very highly likely. When your a Pak Cricket fan, after 6 years, you finally just give up on this guy.

Because we know our 'K.hotaaa' is retarded and has the capability and some to mouth off like this at an isntant's notice!

He don't even need to be in prime physical shape for spouting utter rubbish

On a second thought this article doesn't look all that reliable .However the probablity of Akhtar saying these stupidities is high.

I second to that, talent is absolutely useless without fitness

Shoaib Akhtar is funny guy

Great speaker are not great doer

so he wants to blame Inzi and wants to show Malik that he ( akhtar) is senior etc.

Nothing new in Pak politics etc.

First Razzaq, now Akhtar - business as usual!

But he is a senior MIG

Well, he has carte blanche now to blast and further demean the failed and humiliated ex-skipper Inzamam who has gone out in such ignominy after letting down the nation so horribly.

lol, i was watchin aik din geo kay saath (shoaib akhtar). i jus love it at the point where the interviewer asks him tht if he was given total control over pak for a day, what would be the first thing he'd do? shoaib makes a serious face n then says "jee masjid banwaon ga" translation: ill make a masjid. ye was readin this sports article, in which he was sayin like "people say tht im the bad boy of cricket, its nothing like tht". apparently hes changed his look n kinda looks better now than before.

Yah, you understand him alright, as you did the over-weight shambolic idiot of an ex-skipper whose reputation went up in smoke after his shameful "non-leadership" and weird moves in World Cup. If narcaotics is what springs to your mind when Shoaib is mentioned, then it's still no worse than Match-fixing references which do find their way back when talking about Maulvi Inzamam though.

Ok provide the proof that Inzy was involved in Match - Fixing. Even the dodgy judge Qayyum couldn't lay that at his door. However it has been long confirmed that your beloved is a drugs cheat.

Yeh drop all super stars.

love hate is pendulum. when ur fit ppl love u when ur not ppl hate u

Hard to love someone who is fit for approximately one day out of a whole series...this Fast Food Burger Style Love is not for me

I can't wait for this sarakchaap man-child to "retire" or be dropped.

I will distribute mathai to all of PP and celebrate as if I were marrying Faryal Goher and Sawera Nadeem at the same time.

Seriously????
Is it really that hard to get married to these two?

over criticism like this put players under lot of pressure which inzi complain in his press conferences mostly

HaHaHa, here comes Inzi

Farrukh ,Inzi is not the captain now.he is not even in the team now.Now ask ur super hero to join the team asap.

everything has its own time. if u wait u will also get to see shoaib.

at last the time has come.Time to quit Pakpassion

no personal fights please.

It's amazing how many people here are convinced that Shoaib Akhtar is a drug cheat for having a fairly small amount of nandrolene more in his body than the normal level.

Could have been a mistake.

Anyone ever considered that option or is Shoaib not worthy of benefit of the doubt?