A redux of Shoaib's faux pas

Neil Manthorp, writing in Super Cricket, gives his take on Shoaib Akhtar's suspension from the Pakistan team for hitting Mohammad Asif with a bat. But before that, he provides an account of the incident.

The script went something like this:

Shoaib and Shahid Afridi sitting alone in the Pakistan change room. Shoaib: "I have the same status in Pakistan cricket as Imran Khan..." Afridi: [convulsive laughter] Enter Mohammed Asif Afridi: "Listen to this [laughter] he says he has the same status as Imran Khan!" Asif: [muffled giggle]. Shoaib chases after Asif and swings his bat as hard as possible hitting Asif on the thigh.

Pakistan's administrators deserve no criticism for the action they have taken now. They deserve criticism for ever allowing Shoaib's ego to become so hopelessly out of control, for allowing him to make his own rules for so many years and to get away with serial misbehaviour before it ever came to this.

If they couldn't control him, or didn't want to, they should have delegated that responsibility for the sake of Pakistani cricket. And if he really was uncontrollable at least they would have known six or seven years ago.