Mark Wood: “Aura. Got to be the fastest man, hasn’t it? Shoaib Akhtar”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
England seamer Mark Wood said he would pick legendary Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar solely because of his “aura”.
Wood was constructing his perfect pace bowler and believes that the aura Akhtar had as “the fastest man” was better than anyone else.
Nicknamed the Rawalpindi Express, Akhtar represented Pakistan in 46 Tests and took 178 wickets at an average of 25.69.
He also played 163 ODIs and claimed 247 wickets at an average of 24.97.
As for his T20I career, the 49-year-old picked up 19 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 22.73.
Akhtar still holds the record for the fastest ball bowled in international cricket, which was clocked at 161.3 kph (100.2 mph).
“Aura. Got to be the fastest man, hasn’t it? Shoaib Akhtar. He sprinted in from the boundary. I wouldn’t want to be looking up any time soon. I think I’d be, you know, getting shorter and shorter as he was running in. Or further, further away from the stumps. So, just pure aura and you got to have a nickname like Rawalpindi Express,” Wood said in a video uploaded by England Cricket to Facebook.
Pakistan recently took on Bangladesh in a two-Test series in Rawalpindi and surprisingly lost 2-0.
The men in green will be looking to bounce back when they face England in a three-match Test series, which is set to be held from October 7 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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