Diary
My new skipper is like a little brother to me
By Shoaib Akhtar
Aug 31, 2007, 11:28

After a short warm-up in Kenya, it’s going to be time to get down to business in the Twenty20 World Cup and to be really honest I can’t wait for the big stage again.

I have been away from international cricket for too long and I just can’t wait to play cricket because I have been struggling for the last four years, which have been the toughest of my life and most people do not understand what I have been through with the chucking allegations – three times they accused me of chucking at the peak of my career, I have been banned twice and told not to bowl.

These things were always hanging over me and I used to wonder what am I going to do next. Then as soon as I came out of all that I struggled with injuries because if you are mentally not there you can’t perform physically because the brain orders the body what to do. My brain wasn’t in place for most of that time so I tended to pick up injuries.

But hopefully all of those dark days for me and the team are in the past. We are looking ahead and I am supporting my captain who is a young captain and is like a little brother to me. He always asks my advice and asks ‘What should I do and how should I approach you, how do I get the maximum out of you?’

I told him how I operate and the way I work. I wish my other captains had asked me how to get the maximum out of me. The only thing I told my former captains or even the present captain is that the most important thing for us is to win games, not to criticise our personal lives so leave that alone.

Yes be disciplined and practice on time and go with the team and do these things, but if you want to ride a bike, go off for a nice meal, do a bungee jump or other adventurous things, that’s your personal life and you shouldn’t be criticised for it. They (former captains) never understood that and I think they had a match with me rather than took the match out of me.

But the possibilities over the coming months are very exciting especially against South Africa, India and Australia. I really think it is about time we started to lead the world as we should have done for the last few years with the talent we have had.

We’ve got the luxury of a battery of fast bowlers and we should use it against Australia. I think we are the best side right now as far as talent is concerned: we have the best all-rounders, the best fast bowlers and record-holding batsmen in the team.

We just need to get our act together and start performing now, not later, now. The next four years should belong to Pakistan cricket rather than to Australia. The fact we now have a good Australian coach can help us achieve that. Hopefully this new era can begin with success in the Twenty20.