Ashes 2019: Shoaib Akhtar lambasts Jofra Archer for his attitude after hitting Steve Smith

The second Ashes Test between England and Australia marked the debut of Jofra Archer in the format. At the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, he bowled with fire and hardly allowed the Aussie batsmen to get under his skins. Earlier this year, the Barbados-born was fast-tracked into the Three Lions national team, especially bearing in mind the 2019 edition of the World Cup.

But on the fourth day of the ongoing game at the Home of Cricket, he was a recipient of severe criticism. Such was his actions that the netizens even questioned his sportsman spirit. In the 77th over of the Aussie innings, he smacked Steve Smith on the helmet with a vicious bouncer. Archer’s bumper has caused troubles to a number of batters and even Smith couldn’t tackle the ball.

Smith was batting on 80 and was seeing the cricket ball like a football. Archer dug in delivery at a speed in excess of 92 mph and Smith couldn’t move away from the line of the ball. Smith got hit in the neck jaw-line area and had to walk off the park. He was thereafter being treated by the doctors even as he underwent a concussion test. The players on the field were worried for Smith.

Shoaib Akhtar blasts Jofra Archer

When he was on the field, the physios looked after him. In the meantime, Archer went up to Jos Buttler and the duo had a chat with a smile on their faces. Archer didn’t even go up to Smith and check on his well-being. The same attitude didn’t please people by any stretch of the imaginations.

In the meantime, Shoaib Akhtar, the former Pakistan fast bowler, was extremely critical of Archer. Shoaib, who smacked a number of batsmen on helmets, said that Jofra should’ve walked up to Smith. He felt that bouncers are part and parcel of a game, but a bowler needs to show some courtesy.

The former pacer took to Twitter and wrote “Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman.”

Here is Akhtar’s tweet

Bouncers are a part & parcel of the game but whenever a bowler hits a batsman on the head and he falls, courtesy requires that the bowler must go & check on him. It was not nice of Archer to just walk away while Smith was in pain. I was always the first one to run to the batsman.

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) August 18, 2019

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