Pakistan’s legendary fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday (July 24) conducted a one-off question and answer session (Q&A) on Twitter after officially announcing the launch of his biopic on social media.
Notably, Akhtar’s forthcoming sports biopic titled ‘Rawalpindi Express Running against the odds’, which is being made by Muhammad Faraz Qaiser, is set to release on November 16, 2023 and sharing the mega announcement with his social media family, Akhtar also interacted with his fans and followers on Twitter.
“Q & A for half an hour about this & a lot more. Use the hashtag #RawalpindiExpressTheFilm and you may get lucky with a response,” Akhtar kickstarted the Q&A session with a tweet.
Q & A for half an hour about this & a lot more. Use the hashtag #RawalpindiExpressTheFilm and you may get lucky with a response. pic.twitter.com/xasTnvvfNH
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) July 24, 2022
However, a cricket admirer was more interested in knowing Akhtar’s views on Virat Kohli as he asked the former Pakistan pacer to describe the former India captain in one word.
“One word for Virat Kohli #Rawalpindiexpressthefilm,” shared one of his fans on Twitter.
Interestingly, Akhtar was quick to reply to the fan as he termed Kohli an absolute legend of the game.
“Legend already,” Akhtar responded.
Legend already
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) July 24, 2022
Meanwhile, a couple of days ago, Akhtar reminded the critics of Kohli that he did not score those 70 international hundreds in his “aunt’s backyear” or while playing mobile game “candy crush”.
Kohli’s painfully long lean patch of nearly three years has led to calls for his ouster from the T20 World Cup team, with even the legendary Kapil Dev voicing support for his exclusion.
While Akhtar said he respects Dev’s opinion that continuing with the woefully out-of-form Kohli is unfair to a performing junior, the Pakistani reminded everyone that it takes a lot of effort to score 43 ODI and 27 Test hundreds.
“Kapil Dev is my senior and he has an opinion and it is fine to have an opinion. If Kapil Dev says, you still understand as he is a great cricketer. He has the right to air his opinion,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.
“But, as a Pakistani, why am I supporting Kohli? Well, he has 70 hundreds. Woh 70 sau khaala ke ghar mein ya candy crush khelte huye nahi banein hain. (Those 70 tons were not scored in his aunt’s backyard or while playing Candy Crush),” he added.
Shoaib Akhtar: Virat Kohli hasn’t scored 70 centuries by playing candy crush. Only a great player can do it and he’s the best in last 10 years. He will comeback.
While some former Indian cricketers are busy in their own talks about Kohli. Neighbours are giving the support pic.twitter.com/JuXGaWhomv
— Akshat (@AkshatOM10) July 16, 2022
Akhtar was at pains to understand how one even harbours thoughts of dropping a player of Kohli’s calibre.
“How did you even imagine in your wildest dreams that Kohli can be dropped from Indian team?”
“Virat Kohli is finished? Ok, fair enough. Virat Kohli should be dropped? Agreed. Now when I hear these things, I laugh and tell people, ‘Virat has been the greatest batter in the world in the last 10 years.
“Yes, he has had a couple of lean years and even in those years, he has scored runs if not hundreds. Suddenly everyone getting up in arms against him, such a great player and a human being isn’t right,” the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ said.
