Shoaib Akhtar burst onto the big stage in the 1999 World Cup with a long, hurtling run-up and blistering speed. His star status was sealed by a great flop of hair, a talent for show-boating and a vivid nickname - the Rawalpindi Express. But it was too much, too young. A huge ego and his blind ambition to break the 100mph barrier seemed to matter more to him than cementing his place in the Pakistan side, and in November 2006, he copped a two-year ban for using the banned substance, Nandrolone, but he was reprieved on appeal to the undisguised disgust of international drugs agencies.

It was the latest, but by no means the only, controversy in his chequered career. The authorities twice sidelined him over throwing allegations and although his action was cleared, courtesy of hyperextensible joints and the University of Western Australia, injuries created fresh doubts over his international future. However, he channelled his enormous resources far better in 2002, turning in two of the most blistering bowling efforts of the year, both against Australia. First, he blitzed them with a spell of 5 for 25 in a one-dayer at Brisbane, and then returned 5 for 21 in a spectacular performance in Colombo that all but won the Test. The 2003 World Cup was far more disappointing, though. He promised much, but came a cropper, especially in the needle encounter against Sachin Tendulkar. Dropped after the World Cup, Shoaib roared back to form on the tour to New Zealand, but soon after came a forgettable - and controversial - series against India. Not only did he struggle for wickets, he also left the field at a crucial stage of the third Test citing wrist injury and back pain, though neither injury seemed to bother him when he came out to bat. Shoaib felt the heat, as his commitment and his relationship with the captain and the team management came into question as well. The series began a period in which Shoaib's career came under its gravest threat. Mutterings about his commitment were never far away and a difficult relationship with Inzamam and Bob Woolmer the coach didn't make matters easier. He blew hot and cold in Australia, looking Pakistan's most incisive threat for periods but also looking their most disinterested at others. A hamstring injury cut short that tour and a potpourri of fitness, commitment and attitudinal complaints meant he missed most of Pakistan's cricket in 2005.

But, inevitably perhaps, he came back against England, finishing with 17 wickets and proving the difference between the two sides. As well as being at the peak of his powers - a concotion of lethal slower balls, yorkers and bouncers - Shoaib looked a team man to the core. Typically since then he has spent much time on the sidelines, missing tours to Sri Lanka and most of England with a combination of ankle and knee injuries. He returned to play the ODI series against England and seemed back in full flow, before again missing the last match with an injury. At the time, it seemed his rehabilitation at the end of 2005 might become one of the most significant moments in Pakistan's history. But then came the drugs furore, and the realisation it had been too good to be true.

One day captured his essence; he returned against South Africa in Durban in 2006-07, having not been picked for the series initially, took 4 for 36 in 11 overs, set up a Test win, strained a hamstring, argued with the late coach Bob Woolmer, and returned to Pakistan. He was in Pakistan's squad for the 2007 World Cup, but pulled out at the last minute with an injury, though many suggested it was actually because of fears that traces of Nandrolone remained in his system, which might crop up in a dope test during the tournament. It turned out, in hindsight, to be a good tournament to miss.

Shoaib was not picked to represent Pakistan in the Abu Dhabi series against Sri Lanka and was dropped from the Asian squad for the Afro-Asia Cup after being initially selected. He, however, was named in Pakistan's squad for a brief tour of Scotland as well as the squad for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in September 2007. However, a dressing room bust-up with fellow paceman Mohammad Asif resulted in Shoaib being sent back home before the tournament even started, and he was banned the following April for five years. Once again his international future hangs under a cloud, but this one seems rather more persistent.
Cricinfo staff April 2008

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May 4, 2008 Shoaib Akhtar arrives to face the tribunal at the Pakistan Cricket Academy © PA Photos

Apr 30, 2008 Shoaib Akhtar arrives at his hearing in Lahore © AFP

Apr 28, 2008 Shoaib Akhtar arrives to attend an appellate tribunal hearing © AFP

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