'Harsh, but he had it coming'

"Tell me how many players in world cricket have been banned for five years on discipline charges? Previous incidents of indiscipline should have been dealt with at the time instead of being allowed to accumulate."
Imran Khan thinks the Pakistan board should have been more proactive

"Disappointing is no word to describe Akhtar's ban, I would call it pathetic and request the new political government to sack the Nasim Ashraf-led PCB."
Sarfraz Nawaz, is in favour of the ban ... the other way round

"I don't think the board has done anything wrong by banning Shoaib Akhtar. I am sure the PCB has taken his past record into consideration before banning him ... It's not right on Shoaib's part to approach the media."
Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has captained Shoaib at his best and worst

"Personally, I wouldn't have banned him. I'd have made him earn his international place back by playing domestic cricket."
Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson thinks it's a bit harsh

"The PCB should have supported Akhtar more because there have been characters like Akhtar - there was John McEnroe in tennis and our own Aamer Sohail - who were temperamental yet talented and gave sports a lot to cheer."
Bad boys should get some slack, Rashid Latif thinks

"I can tell you with all honesty that there was no ulterior motive involved in the ban. It was a situation where we had to decide how much longer could we allow Shoaib Akhtar to keep on violating discipline and work ethic."
Muneer Hafeez, the PCB's disciplinary committee chairman, explains the decision

"Shoaib shot himself in the foot and there's nobody else to blame. Something like this was waiting to happen and there's a very clear sequence to Shoaib's self-destruction."
Ramiz Raja saw it coming

"Just like a child, Shoaib too has a very low tolerance level. He should first think before saying or doing stuff. Shoaib needs to be mature and get married too."
Shoaib's friend Meera, a Pakistani actor, puts it down to a lack of TLC

"I feel sorry for Shoaib, but it is also true he has been involved in many disciplinary cases. However, I would like to add here that it is the result of the PCB's leniency towards Shoaib's past blunders. His [latest] offence is not that grave, as several Pakistan Test cricketers in the past have done this type of wrong act repeatedly and got away with it."
Javed Miandad is another who thinks the sentence doesn't match the crime

"I think after me now the board has targeted Shoaib Akhtar. Their next targets are Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi."
Abdul Razzaq knows what it feels like

"I think the matter has gone too far. This whole issue is damaging for Pakistan cricket so I hope that a compromise is reached."
Younis Khan pleads for the madness to stop

"His USP is his aggression. All these things keep on happening. We should take things in the right spirit.
Shahrukh Khan co-owner of the IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, which Shoaib is contracted to play for, defends his temperamental star