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Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar in action Photo © CricInfo 1999

When 23-year old Shoaib Akhtar bowls most batsmen probably dream of boring desk jobs! He thunders up 35 yards and bowls lightning bolts at the batsman. Akhtar's talent, determination and raw aggression has made him the blue-eyed boy of Pakistani cricket. His astonishing pace of 150 plus km/h has meant that, after just 10 Test matches and 16 ODIs, he is being compared to legends like Wes Hall and Jeff Thomson.

Broad shoulders, powerful legs and strong arms gives Akhtar the perfect physique for a fast bowler. And he absolutely loves bowling fast. Akhtar continuously mesmerizes batsmen with short balls, yorkers and slower balls. Oozing with aggression, he even intimidates batsmen with bouncers in ODIs! Whether they are openers or tail-enders, Akhtar will attack them. On placid, dry wickets he can extract tremendous pace. And to make matters worse for the batsmen, Shoaib has very good control over line and length. All these factors overwhelmingly make Shoaib Akhtar our first ever 'Hercules Champion'.

Shoaib seems to have an obsession with bowling real fast - above 90 miles/hour - which could distract him from performing optimally. If he is able to overcome this potential weakness, he could well become a cricketing legend in the long run.