Shoaib Akhtar has few parallel as crowd puller and the enigmatic 'Rawalpindi Express' did everything to woo the Ferozeshah Kotla crowd.
NEW DELHI: Shoaib Akhtar has few parallel as crowd puller and the enigmatic 'Rawalpindi Express' did everything to woo the Ferozeshah Kotla crowd -- from waving, clapping, smiling and even donning the Delhi Police cap for a while.
As his teammates were cruising to the meagre target of 214 runs, the fitness fanatic in Shoaib headed for the gym at the Kotla to sweat it out.
Once he was through, Shoaib was passing by a group of police personnel who, for a moment, decided to let their hair down and came forward to shake hands with the pacer.
Shoaib obliged everyone and then borrowed a cap from one of them and donned it with an amused crowd in attendance.
He soon took it off and returned to the policeman before walking into the pavilion.
Shoaib, in fact, looked completely a different person on Friday. Gone were the mane and the menacing look and instead, he wore a shortly cropped hair and smiled a lot, even when he was hit for a boundary.
Dividing his fielding duty between mid off and third man, the temperamental speedster looked more involved, often sharing a word with captain Shoaib Malik.
It was only on Thursday that Malik sought to dismiss the notion that Shoaib was a troublemaker for the team and insisted the pacer was a 'team man'.
As if to justify that, Shoaib did everything on the field - even dove once to stop Rajat Bhatia's drive that seemed heading for the boundary.
After a barren first spell of 4-0-12-0, Shoaib returned for his second spell with the Kotla crowds roaring to greet him.
The familiar prolonged run-up was on display again but there was no scope for that albatross-like celebration till he scalped Gaurav Chhabra in his final over. But even then, he was unusually quiet, probably reserving it for a bigger stage.
Even when Shikar Dhawan pulled him for a six, Shoaib retained his smile and the only occasion when he looked grumpy was when his appeal for an leg before appeal against Rajat Bhatia was turned down.
Shoaib stood mid-pitch, hands on hips, looking at the umpire for a few seconds before going back to his mark. He followed it with a snorter, a perfume delivery, as Bhatia barely managed to evade it.
Though he did not need to bat, Shoaib came out in the balcony of the dressing room, waved at the crowd and clapped to them to acknowledge their support.
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