‘He just smiled and said I’m gonna kill you’: Liam Plunkett recalls frightening encounter with Shoaib Akhtar

Plunkett said Akhtar issued him a warning before his debut Test and the incident took him by surprise since he had played county cricket with the former Pakistan fast bowler.

England fast bowler Liam Plunkett narrated an incident from his Test debut against Pakistan, revealing how former pacer Shoaib Akhtar tried to rough him up. Recalling the Test match in Lahore in late 2005, Plunkett said Akhtar issued him a warning before the game, which sounded more like a threat, and the incident took him by surprise since he had played county cricket with the former Pakistan fast bowler.

Shoaib Akhtar dismissed Liam Plunkett in the fifth and final Test of the series. (Getty Images)

“Frightening stuff,” Plunkett said of watching Shoaib bowl on The Broken Trophy podcast. “In county cricket, I was first-change to Shoaib and Harmy (Steve Harmison). I was at slip for Harmy and leg-slip for Shoaib. I faced Shoaib Akhtar in my first ever Test match. Because I played with Durham before that, I was marking my run up before the Test and he just smiled and said ‘I’m gonna kill you’ and laughed.”

That is when Shoaib, in his own words, made it clear to Plunkett he was no longer dwelling on their friendship from Durham. The visiting team was 249/7 when a nervous Plunkett came to bat. He saw off two deliveries from leg-spinner Danish Kaneria before it was his turn to face a charged-up Akhtar.

“I remember it like it was yesterday because I had my bat, at that time – you think [now] these bats are so thick and stuff – but it was Kashmir willow, it was real thin,” he said. “And I was sat ready to bat, I was next in, and the TV screen’s right there, so you can see it’s like 96, 97, 96 [miles per hour]. Ashley Giles’ stumps get taken out, and I walk out to a guy who’s bowling 90 mile an hour.”

However, Plunkett was able to negotiate Akhtar and his deadly pace. He scored a dogged nine off 51 and although it was Mohammad Sami who got him out eventually, Plunkett did receive some chin music from Akhtar.

“I remember the first one, it looked like I played it well. You duck and you turn and you can see it travel to the keeper and the keeper catches it. I got my first medal of honour, he hit me on the shoulder. I pretty much shit my pants at that point,” Plunkett said.

“He’s just such a big solid bloke, he’s got massive tree trunk legs, and he just steams in, and you’re like, ‘every ball’s got serious intent here’. I think I was like nine off 60 balls, but I managed to do a decent job.”