Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was known for his aggressive behavior during his cricket career and on many occasions he was harsh with umpires, opposing players and even his teammates he used to exchange harsh words.
“I wanted to punch the umpire in the ribs at least 30 to 40 times during my career or hit the batsmen on the head,” the world’s fastest bowler told Sports Cada.
The right-arm fast bowler recalls an incident that occurred during the 1999 World Cup group match against Australia.
Shoaib Akhtar said that he had deliberately kicked the Australian captain in the leg as his appeal was rejected by the umpire even though he was LBW.
Shoaib Akhtar said, Steve Waugh was plumbed out during the 1999 World Cup but the umpires rejected the appeal.
I was so angry that I went and kicked him in the leg while he was running. I hit him on purpose. I was very rude to him. In the heat of the moment, I said, ‘You should be ashamed, you were plumber LBW out.’
The Rawalpindi Express, which later clean bowled the Australian captain with a brilliant Yorker, further revealed that he was angry and exchanged a few harsh words with the umpire.
According to Shoaib Akhtar, Then I looked at Steve Buckner. I said to him, ‘Are you sleeping?’ I was so angry that I thought I was going to kill someone, I felt like I was going to bite him, I still remember this incident a lot.
Getting angry I had to respect the officials and the players that I had to do, I have fought the players and the batsmen but never insulted the umpires.
You can check out my entire career. I have never been rude to the authorities. It is pertinent to mention here that Shoaib Akhtar may have mixed up the names of the umpires as it was a group stage match where Rudy Kurtzen and Peter Willie were the umpires on the field.
Speaking of the match, Pakistan won by 10 runs in which Steve Waugh scored 49 runs while Pakistan captain Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq took 4 and 3 wickets respectively.