'I would have chopped off his head'- Shoaib Akhtar recalls battle with Ricky Ponting

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is one of the most lethal pacers to have ever played the game. Known for his aggressive and fierce nature, the Rawalpindi Express was also involved in duels with several prominent names like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Rahul Dravid. In the latest, Akhtar has recalled his contest with Australian legend Ricky Ponting at WACA in the 1999 Perth Test. The pacer was at his lethal best in the game as he made the red cherry talk.

Notably, Perth is known to produce one of the fastest and bounciest tracks in the cricketing world and the Rawalpindi Express wanted to make the difference as his side had lost the previous two Tests in the series. The 46-year-old has admitted that he went in with the mindset to hurt Australian batters. Akhtar revealed that he purposely bowled bouncers and wanted the Aussies to face the chin music.

I wanted to see if Ricky Ponting can match my pace: Shoaib Akhtar

“During the Test match, I thought [if nothing is happening] let’s hurt somebody. That’s why I bowled the fastest spell. I wanted to see if Ricky can match my pace and I was purposely bowling bouncers [to] see if I could beat him but before that, I had never beaten him with my sheer pace,” Akhtar was quoted by TimesNow.

Akhtar said that had it been any other batter in place of Ponting, he would have chopped his head off. “Had it not been Ricky Ponting … I would have chopped his [the batsman’s] head off because it was furiously fast,” Akhtar added.

Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Express played 46 Test matches in which he has scalped a total of 178 wickets at an average of 25.7. Talking about his numbers in ODI cricket, he played a total of 163 matches for Pakistan in which he scalped a total of 247 wickets at an economy of 4.76. In his short T20I career, Akhtar played 15 matches and took 19 wickets but had an economy of 8.15.