Shoaib Akhtar Reveals One Of The Key Reasons Behind His International Retirement

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar retired from international cricket after the 2011 World Cup. Having made his international debut back in 1997, Akhtar played the majority of his career with injury concerns. He had several knee surgeries which played a part in shortening his international career.

Akhtar was one of the fiercest pacers of his time and had memorable battles with top international batsmen across countries. He bowled to many great batsmen during his career but had the toughest of battles against Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. He dismissed the Indian duo a number of times but then was taken for runs as well.

Sachin Tendulkar & Rahul Dravid Used To Tire Me Out: Shoaib Akhtar

While previewing the PBKS vs KKR game for Sportskeeda, Akhtar remembered playing against the duo and said that bowling against the likes of Sachin and Dravid tired him out very much which is why he considered an early retirement from international cricket.

“One of the main reasons for my retirement was that I am not able to wake up early anymore. I have been waking up at 6 am for the past 25 years. And then to bowl to the likes of Sachin and Dravid, they used to tire me all day. So this was one of the main reasons for my retirement – that I can’t wake up early,” said Shoaib Akhtar.

Talking about Akhtar bowling to the likes of Sachin and Dravid, the Pakistan pacer had a fair bit of success against the two. In six Tests, Akhtar has dismissed Tendulkar twice and the latter was able to score at a strike rate of just 56.40 against the Pakistan pacer. Akhtar had dismissed Sachin four times in the ODIs.

Rahul Dravid, on the other hand, was dismissed by Shoaib Akhtar just thrice across Tests and ODIs in his career. Akhtar ended his international career with 444 wickets.

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