Shoaib Akhtar stoops to new depths

Last week I was not entirely unsurprised to hear that the PCB, in an unprecedented show of strength had decided that Shoaib had just taken that one step too far. Banned for, well, it's unimportant how many years, because Akhtar is at the end of his lease of cricketing life, and one year would be a year too far.

Perhaps this is why Shoaib is fighting so very hard to overturn the decision of the PCB. He knows full well that he could pick up a contract, if not with the IPL then with the rebel ICL and earn shed loads of money.

But Shoaib is a proud Pakistani cricketer. His fortune and fame are entirely based upon his appearance on the field for his country.

He wants to come back for his country, but to make an allegation of match-fixing is really not the way to go. Cricket had to search its very soul after the Hansie Cronje scandal - something that we will probably never know the truth of. For Shoaib to seek redemption now by suggesting that he has something to reveal is the mark of a very desperate man.

Sadly, for a man so gifted with the ball in the park, it seems that Shoaib is seeking nothing more than to wound his coaches and fellow players who have so often sought to protect him.

Wanton allegations do nothing  but harm to the game, the game we love so much and if any of his accusations should bear fruit and truth, then, sadly, we won't remember Shoaib for his skill and charm, but for dragging the sport into yet more disrepute.

The PCB has a lot of work to do.

[Image: Getty] [mimitig]