Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar Biography:

About the worst way to assess Shoaib Akhtar would be to do so through his numbers; they aren't unimpressive but rarely have they revealed so little.From the moment Shoaib emerged on the scene in the late 90s, the world knew it was in for some career. First there was the extreme pace and there was also the attitude; Shoaib was the fastest bowler in the world, he knew it, he made sure others knew it. He was a natural successor to the legacy of Imran, Wasim and Waqar. But that he will end his career an 'if only' or a 'coulda been' is the great tragedy. He had it all and he blew it.What he had was remarkable. Early on, in 1999, there wasn't a more thrilling sight in the world than Shoaib hurtling in off an impossibly long run and beating the world's best batsmen for pace. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were clean bowled off successive deliveries at Eden Gardens and the World Cup in England later in the year was all but Shoaib's.Other peaks came intermittently, but from 2004 to 2006, he rediscovered a spark; the trophy was the home series win over England in 2005-06 in which he took 17 wickets. By this time not only was he still very, very quick, but he had become an extremely smart bowler, an oft-underrated aspect of his development.But it was a false dawn and a last hurrah. In between whiles and after, there have been as many lows. The list of misdemeanours is impossibly long; doubts about his action, ball-tampering offences, beating up his own team-mates, courtroom battles against his board, long bans and heavier fines, serious career-threatening injuries and most damagingly, doping charges. In his time, he missed more than half of the Tests Pakistan played.So much so that what he did on the field had long ago ceased to matter and has been eclipsed by his scrapes off the field. For any sportsman, that is a damning indictment.

Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar on hattrick vs India

Shoaib Akhtar at his Best

Zulqarnain haider

Zulqarnain haider Biography:

There was a time when it was not at all certain that Zulqarnain Haider, a tall and lanky wicketkeeper from Lahore, would ever build on his debut, which came in a heavy loss in a Twenty20 against South Africa in February 2007. But after some good domestic results he found a place on the 2010 England tour as Kamran Akmal's understudy, and when the senior keeper's lapses became too frequent, Haider was given a Test debut at Edgbaston. He was out to his first ball feathering a catch behind, but his characterful and determined 88 in the second innings formed the basis of a fightback.

Zulaqarnain haider

Zulqarnain Haider 88 runs against England

Zulqarnain Haider Abusing

Umar akmal

UMAR AKMAL Biography:

The runs didn't cease to flow for Umar Akmal, the younger brother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran and Adnan, in his maiden first-class season. In a triumphant 2007-08 for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, Umar failed to score in his first outing but then went on to amass 855 runs from nine matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, at an average of 77.72 and an impressive strike-rate of 90.18. He showed a penchant for both brisk and big scoring, with knocks of 248 off 225 balls and 186 off 170. In January 2008, he was picked in Pakistan's Under-19 team for the World Cup in Malaysia. He was the leading run-getter - with 255 runs at a strike-rate of 123.18 - in a tri-nation tournament involving England and Sri Lanka in the lead-up to the World Cup. A successful tour of Australia with Pakistan A was followed up a maiden international call-up for the ODIs in Sri Lanka, and Umar started off with a half-century in his second game and a power-packed hundred in his third. A Test call-up was inevitable and he gave an optimistic glimpse into the future of Pakistan cricket, with a century on debut, under pressure followed by a string of consistent scores in New Zealand.

UMAR AKMAL