Legendary Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is hopeful that his record of the fastest delivery in the world will be broken in the future.
It must be noted that Akhtar bowled the fastest delivery in international cricket, clocking 161.3kph against England in Cape Town on February 22, 2003.
“I hope someone breaks my record. I will per-sonally congratulate that player when it happens,” Akhtar said during an interview with Hum News.
He also shed light on how he achieved the spec-tacular feat. “I wanted to get it done and dusted. I got jabbed twice in both of my knees which made them numb,” he said.
“Despite fears of suffering an injury, I took that risk and broke the record. Almost 20 years have passed and that record is still in intact.”
Akhtar’s comment comes at an interesting point in time as Indian speedster Umran Malik has been making the headlines with his searing pace. The Srinagar-born clocked 157kph while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
Akhtar, who made his international debut in 1997, took 178 wickets in 46 Tests, the last of which was against India at Bangalore in 2007. He bagged 247 scalps in 163 one-day interna-tionals, along with 19 wickets in 15 Twenty20 internationals.—Agencies
