by Abhishek Mukherjee
He is a controversial man, but if you look beyond that, he was a fantastic bowler.

It was not merely about pace. He could bowl.

How good was Shoaib?

Put a 150-wicket cutoff, and only Rabada, Barnes, Steyn, and Waqar have better strike rates in Tests.

Put a 200-wicket cutoff, and only Lee, Saqlain, Waqar, and Johnson have better strike rates in ODIs.

There are too many anecdotes, of which I shall share one from his teenage days.

Shoaib Akhtar loved motorbikes. That he drove very, very fast should not come as a surprise. You do associate him with speed.

However, on one occasion he got carried away more than he should have.

He drove his bike through the Principal's office, one that had doors on each end.

The Principal was inside, lecturing.

Shoaib "wished him a polite good morning and sailed out".

He was expelled immediately. An apology reduced the sentence to three days.

It was not the last time that a ban on him would be reduced drastically.

Shoaib Akhtar was born on 13 August 1975