'He will be half-disabled' - Shoaib Akhtar recalls doctor's scary prediction in childhood

One of the fastest bowlers to have ever graced the game, former Pakistan international Shoaib Akhtar was nothing but a nightmare for batters during his playing days. The right-arm speedster still holds the record of delivering the fastest ball in international cricket, 161.3 kmph. However, Akhtar’s journey to stardom wasn’t smooth by any means. In fact, he wasn’t able to walk until the age of six.

Akhtar’s tally of 444 international wickets could have been even more enormous had persistent injuries not affected his career. In a recent interaction, the 46-year-old revealed that he has had 42 injections to his left knee, in addition to nine operations. Hailed as the Rawalpindi Express, Akhtar also revealed that when he was a child, a doctor told his mother that he will not be able to run like normal children.

I used to hide my injuries: Shoaib Akhtar

The doctor even predicted Akhtar to be a ‘half-disabled’ boy in future. “I could not walk until the age of six. I used to crawl. The doctor always said to my mother, ‘Listen, this guy will be half-disabled. He will not be able to run like normal guys’,” Akhtar said in a recent interaction with Australian newspaper ‘The Age’. Akhtar further recalled that he would often fall asleep in an “ice bath.”

“[The injuries] became bone on bone in my knees. Imagine the pain I went through. Man, it was terrible. I used to [fall] asleep in an ice bath. There were many times that teammates would wake me up and say, ‘It’s four in the morning, get out and get in the bed’. I used to hide my injuries. There was fierce competition and the media wouldn’t understand why I didn’t play regularly,” said Akhtar.

All these hurdles didn’t restrict Akhtar from becoming a formidable force in international cricket. His breathtaking spells took Pakistan to numerous wins across formats. While he bid adieu to international cricket in 2011, the talismanic cricketer continues to be in news due to his bold and controversial statements.