Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar shared a video of himself taking a painkiller injection in his knee as the surgery has been delayed by a couple of months. Akhtar wrote that he took this kind of a pain to play for his country and if given a chance he will do that all over again.
Akhtar, known as ‘Rawalpindi Express’, was one of the most feared fast bowlers around the world during his time but his career was marred with several injuries and eventually cut short his playing career.
Taking to Twitter, Akhtar shared the video and captioned it saying, “The pain I took for playing for Pakistan. But I’d do it all over again if given another chance. Since there’s a two-month delay in my operation, this is what I had to resort to.”
The 46-year old had undergone a knee reconstruction surgery two years ago and is set to get it operated again. Last month, Akhtar shared a picture of himself after a running session where he mentioned that he is going to get a total knee replacement in Australia.
“My running days are over as am leaving for total knee replacement in Australia Melbourne very soon,” Akhtar wrote while sharing the picture on Instagram.
The Rawalpindi Express recently had revealed that he met Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya during the 2018 Asia Cup and remembered him warning him about a possible injury concern due to his action. The pacer further said that exactly one and a half-hour later, Pandya ended up sustaining a back injury.
“I told Bumrah in Dubai, even Hardik Pandya…I still have such strong back muscles behind my shoulders, but they looked so lean. I was shocked. I warned him that you will get injured, but he told me that he has been playing a lot of cricket. Exactly an hour and a half later, he got injured,” Akhtar had said during an interaction on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel.