Shoaib Akhtar's bouncers made Sachin Tendulkar fearful during 2006 Test: Mohammad Asif

Former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar is widely regarded as one of the fastest bowlers to have ever graced the game. An active member of the Pakistani pace department between 1997 and 2011, the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ bagged 444 wickets across his 224 international appearances. Even post-retirement, the 44-year old strongly opines his views on trending cricketing affairs either through his YouTube channel or interviews and podcasts. Quite recently, Shoaib Akhtar left a scathing and constructed criticism towards the International Cricket Council (ICC) during an online chat with Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar.

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Shoaib Akhtar slams ICC for making cricket batsman-friendly

In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Shoaib Akhtar said that he believes ICC has “successfully finished cricket” during the course of the last 10 years. The pacer criticised ICC’s growing batsmen-friendly rules including field restrictions and the usage of two new balls in ODIs. Shoaib Akhtar, whose rivalry with Sachin Tendulkar was widely acknowledged and popularised by fans, also felt that the apex body should increase the number of bouncers per over for the bowlers. He was of the opinion that the quality of cricket has gone down in the past few years because of ICC, which is why there are no ‘Sachin Tendulkar versus Shoaib Akhtar’ contests for the fans anymore.

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Mohammad Asif talks on Shoaib Akhtar vs Sachin Tendulkar battle

In an interview with Pakistani show The Burgerz, Akhtar's former teammate Mohammad Asif was back at his controversial best by claiming that he saw fear and helplessness in Sachin Tendulkar's eyes as 'he closed them' when Shoaib Akhtar bowled bouncers at him constantly during a Test match in Pakistan in 2006. It was a way for Asif to laud Akhtar's pace at the time.

In his interview, Akhtar lauded Asif in return for his delivery that bamboozled VVS Laxman in the same series. This made Akhtar claim that the latter is the best example for fast bowlers around the world to learn the skill, more than any other great in the game.

However, recently Akhtar lauded Sachin Tendulkar, calling him the 'best batsman' and wanted him to get a hundred in the 2003 World Cup game at Centurion, which India famously won after Tendulkar was dismissed on 98 off the Pakistani's bowling.

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