Will produce more aggressive fast bowlers: Shoaib Akhtar on coaching India pacers

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said that he is open to coaching Indian bowlers and he believes that this spreading of knowledge will be beneficial for the game. In an interview on social networking app Helo, Akhtar made it clear that he has never stepped back from sharing his knowledge of the sport and he will be more than happy to teach Indian fast bowlers.

“I will definitely. My job is to spread knowledge. What I have learned is (ilm) knowledge and I will spread it. I will produce more aggressive, fast and more talkative bowlers than the current ones who will tell-off the batsmen in a way that you will enjoy a lot,” he said.

With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Umesh Yadav in their arsenal, India currently have one of the best fast bowling units of the world and the pacers can reap huge benefit from someone like Akhtar, who has played international cricket for more than 12 years.

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Akhtar also spoke about his early interactions with Sachin Tendulkar during the 1998 series.

“I had seen him but didn’t know how big a name he was in India. In Chennai, I got to know that he was known as a God in India. Mind you, he is a very good friend of mine. In 1998, when I bowled as fast as I could, Indian public celebrated with me. I have a big fan following in India,” Akhtar said.

Earlier, Akhtar said that he believes Imran Nazir had more talent than Virender Sehwag, but the right-hander fizzled away after a bright start as he did not have the temperament and the brain to be successful at the international level.

“I don’t think Imran Nazir had the brain that Sehwag had. I don’t think Sehwag had the talent that Imran Nazir had. Nazir had more talent, there is no comparison with regards to talent. We tried to contain him a little,” Akhtar was quoted as saying on a TV show by Cricket Pakistan.

The pacer, who seldom minces words while putting forth his analysis, also blamed Pakistan Cricket Board for not using Nazir the right way and for not grooming him as he could have been a better player than Sehwag. “When he hit a brutal hundred against India in a match, I asked them to play Imran Nazir consistently but they didn’t listen,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that we do not know how to take care of our brands. We could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag in Imran Nazir. He had all the shots while also being a good fielder. We could have utilised him brilliantly but we just couldn’t,” Akhtar went on to add.