‘Wanted to hit batters on the head. They should recall my name by looking at the mirror’: Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar said he wanted to 'hit on the body' of the batters so that they remember him whenver they look in the mirror.

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar is still regarded as one of the fastest bowlers to have ever played the game. 'The Rawalpindi Express' as he was popularly known as, used to terrorise even the best of batters with his nose-high accurate bouncers and toe-crushing yorkers bowled at 150 km/h or even more. Akhtar also holds the record for the fastest delivery in international cricket. He had clocked 161.3 km/h in Pakistan's World Cup match against England in 2003. He had bowled the short-pitched delivery to England opener Nick Knight.

Shoaib Akhtar's bouncer pinned Brian Lara during the 2004 Champions Trophy semifinal.  (Getty)

Akhtar, who specialised in bowling bouncers, said he loved to bang the ball in short as it would make the batter jump and hop in their crease.

"I bowled bouncers because watching batters jump like monkeys was heartening to see. Not going to lie, I wanted to hit batters on the head as I had the pace. This is the perk of being a fast bowler, it simply has to happen," Akhtar told Sportskeeda.

Akhtar said he wanted to 'hit on the body' of the batters so that they remember him whenever they look in the mirror.

"The adrenaline rush is there, the hair is flying, the heartbeat is 185+, you would surely not bowl fuller. It should hit on the body, aalu dikhe jism pe (swelling should be seen on the body). Whenever the batter sees himself in the mirror, he should remember me. This is true love," he added.

Akhtar picked 178 wickets in 46 Tests at an average of 25. He had an even better record in white-ball cricket. He scalped 247 wickets in 163 ODIs. By the time T20 cricket became regular Akhtar was at the fag end of his career and had lost a lot of pace but the right-armer still picked up 19 wickets in 15 matches.

Akhtar also played three World Cups for Pakistan in 1999, 2003 and 2011 before announcing his retirement from all forms of the game that year.