Shoaib ban leaves house divided in Pakistan

Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja has supported the decision to impose five-year ban on Shoaib Akhtar, saying the temperamental fast bowler had become a "problem child" and the verdict was just and expected. However the verdict evoked mixed response from other greats, Imran Khan legendary captain expressed his anguish on the ban. Javed Miandad was also critical of PCB’s handling of the express bowler. We at Zeecric.com bring to you reactions of former greats on Shoaib’s ban:

Imran Khan


Former Pakistan captains Imran Khan and Javed Miandad slammed the country`s cricket board for handing fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar a five-year ban on disciplinary grounds.

"It is totally unacceptable. This ban it literally ends his career. The board is destroying Pakistan cricket by banning players," Imran told a television channel.

Akhtar was banned for repeated disciplinary violations but said he was ready to take court action to fight it.

Imran also criticised the board for banning the players who had signed up to the Indian Cricket League.

"These bans are weakening Pakistan cricket. A fine would have been fine for Shoaib. He has not committed a crime," he said.

"The board must keep in mind that we also need to win matches and keep our pride in international cricket."

Rameez Raza

Rameez, who worked as chief executive of the board between 2003 and 2005, said the speedster had brought the problem upon himself.

"He has been a problem child for some time now. This is not the first time he has had problems with discipline. I think the five-year ban is justified and was coming for a while now. The authorities had no other choice," Rameez said.

"It was time the authorities took a hard decision because indiscipline should not be tolerated at any costs," he told a news channel.

"As it is how many matches has he played in recent times. He was missing more matches than playing and this was having a bad effect on other players. With him not in the team his negative influence will not be there and the team will do better," he said.

The former captain said Shoaib with his habit of violating discipline had become a negative influence on the team.

"I think it was time to do something for the board. There has been a lot of leniency shown in the past."

Javed Miandad

Miandad said he was stunned by severity of the punishment.

"It came as a shock to me because the board has always had a reputation of being soft on disciplinary issues. And now this matter was not that serious that they try to end his career," he told reporters.

Miandad added that if Shoaib challenged the ban in court, it would harm Pakistan cricket.

"We will become a joke. If they wanted to discipline him they should have done it much before now like this," he said.

Zaheer Abbas

Former batsman Zaheer Abbas said Aktar`s ban would weaken the team."He had some two years of cricket left in him and we should have taken advantage of him while maintaining discipline," he said.

"I don`t know what these people are trying to do. The cricketers are not schoolboys to be treated like this. Shoaib committed no big crime."

Inzamam ul Haq

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam- ul-Haq supported the decision of Pakistan Cricket Board for slapping a ban on tear away fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

Speaking exclusively to Zee News former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul Haq said, “He should blame himself for this situation.”

“No one is above cricket…whoever thinks himself to be bigger than cricket, will only doom his chances and harm his career”, Inzy told categorically.

But Inzy asked the PCB to allow the player to play in IPL. A sentiment echoed by PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf who said, “I hope this should not affect his chances of playing outside Pakistan.”