Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Thursday weighed in on the controversy surrounding Shahid Afridi’s autobiography Game Changer, not only endorsing the former all-rounder’s claims regarding senior players’ “harsh behaviour” but adding that the “reality was much more than that”.
“Whatever @SAfridiOfficial has written about harsh behaviour from seniors, reality was much more than that,” Akhtar said in a tweet. “He should have said more.”
“Actually he should have said it 20 years ago,” the former fast-bowler added. “If he did at the right time, he wouldn’t have had to write a book today.”
Hours later, Afridi thanked the former fast-bowler in a tweet, and said that he had “followed [Akhtar’s] footsteps and wrote a book”. Akhtar had released his autobiography Controversially Yours in 2011.
Boom Boom, in his tweet, insisted that he “never wanted to hurt any former player” and was “only trying to state facts”.
The former all-rounder, in his recently released autobiography, has alleged that batting legend Javed Miandad did not like him.
“The tussle had started even before the series kicked off. Miandad had developed a strong opinion against me… in fact, the day before I went to bat, Miandad didn’t even give me any net practice,” the ex-Pakistan captain nicknamed Boom Boom wrote.
He also criticised bowling icon Waqar Younis, calling him a “mediocre captain” and “a terrible coach”.
“Unfortunately, he hadn’t let go of the past,” stated Afridi. “Waqar and I had a history, dating all the way back to his tiff with Wasim [Akram] over the captaincy crown. He was a mediocre captain but a terrible coach, always micromanaging and getting in the way, trying to tell the captain — me — what to do […] It was a natural clash and it was bound to happen.”
The former all-rounder also claimed that he had warned the authorities of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, which eventually landed then-captain Salman Butt, fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in jail.
