Former Indian batting great, Virender Sehwag, has said that it was difficult for him to pick Pakistan’s speedster, Shoaib Akhtar as he used to jerk his elbow, saying the speedster himself knew that he was chucking.
While talking about the bowling styles of the fastest bowlers of his generation on the Indian TV show, Home of Heroes, Sehwag said, “Shoaib knows he used to jerk his elbow; he knew he was chucking too. Why would ICC ban him otherwise?”
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had suspended the world’s fastest bowler from international cricket for one month when his bowling action came under scrutiny in 1999 and asked him to remodify his action.
Comparing the Rawalpindi Express with the Australian pacer, Brett Lee, Sehwag said, “Brett Lee’s hand came down straight, so it was easy to pick the ball. But with Shoaib, you could never guess where the hand and the ball will come from.”
Sehwag, who enjoyed batting against Pakistan, further said that he didn’t have much trouble dealing with Lee, but Akhtar was quite unpredictable.
“I never feared facing Brett Lee, but with Shoaib, I could not trust what he would do if I hit him twice to the fence. Maybe a beamer or a toe-crushing yorker,” Sehwag admitted, saying he considered the Pakistan pacer his ‘boundary bowler’.
It is pertinent to mention here that the International Cricket Council suspended many renowned bowlers from cricket for their bowling action. The likes of Shabir Ahmad, Saeed Ajmal, and Mohammad Hasnain have faced suspension from cricket.
