I Am Fully Fit For the Twenty20 WC! - Shoaib Akhtar

Pakistan’s injury-prone pacer Shoaib Akhtar on Wednesday missed a practice T20 game because of a stiff neck but later announced that he is fully fit for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa next month, writes Khalid Hussain.

“I didn’t play the match today just because of a stiff neck. But overall, I’ve been fully fit for months now and have been training very, very hard for the Twenty20 World Cup,” Shoaib told reporters here at the National Stadium.

As usual, the enigmatic Shoaib has been in news since his arrival in Karachi for the training camp and there was a minor injury scare when he walked out of the field during a practice game earlier this week because of severe dehydration. That day he bowled six unimpressive overs in sultry conditions and failed to take a wicket. He was so frustrated that while entering into the dressing room he banged one of the glass doors.

That episode followed the news that Shoaib has injured his neck and may not be bowling for several days.

However, Shoaib, who is seen by team officials as one of their main strike bowlers for the T20 World Cup, played down any such fears.

“I have a stiff neck probably because of the dehydration I suffered from that day but it is nothing serious,” said the 31-year-old pacer, who has not played for Pakistan since injuring his knee in the second Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in January this year.

Shoaib said that he is itching to bowl in the September 11-24 Twenty20 World Cup. “I’ve been training hard for quite some time and am looking forward to the Twenty20 World Cup,” he said.

Shoaib pointed out that T20 matches are normally high-scoring games with the balance tilting in favour of the batsmen.

“Twenty20 cricket is mostly about high scores and the rules have also been bent to favour the batsmen, which make things tougher for the bowlers” he explained.

But Shoaib stressed that Pakistan have the bowlers to shoot down any opposition. “We have some very good bowlers and can bowl out any team on any kind of surface,” he said.

Shoaib seemed confident that he and Pakistan would do well in South Africa.

On a personal level, however, he could be facing problems even before the start of the T20 World Cup.

Sources told this correspondent that national selectors have taken notice of Shoaib’s sudden loss of form and the frequent injury scares which the bowler is playing down as cases of dehydration or stiff neck.

Sources said that before the Karachi camp, the selection committee counted Shoaib among the core members of the squad but now they are not all that sure. The selectors are now observing Shoaib’s performance in the practice games and will take a final decision on his inclusion in Pakistan’s 15-man squad on the basis of his fitness. Pakistan are likely to announce their final squad on August 6.

Pakistan's Strength Lies In Fast Bowling

Pakistan star pacer Shoaib Akhtar said here Wednesday that fast bowling would be main strength of Pakistan team in the coming Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and added that Pakistan would be among the favourite teams to win the inaugural competition of the shortest version of the game.

In a brief chat with newsmen here at the National Stadium, the pacer, also known as Rawalpindi Express for his speed, said Pakistan was a strong team with a number of fast bowlers in its line-up.

Talking about his own fitness, he said he was fully fit but due to some strain in the back of the neck, he could not play the fifth match on Wednesday.
However, he said he was prepared to take part in the coming Twenty20 event.

He said that he was not facing any major fitness problem. But he hinted that he might miss the sixth match to be played on Thursday (today) under lights.
When pointedly asked about his participation in the sixth match of the current training camp, he refused to respond to the query and said that the team management could respond to that query.

The speedster said he was accustomed to Karachi weather and added the weather in South Africa during the world event would be almost same like Karachi which would be an advantage for the Pakistan team, he added.