Shoaib Akhtar says he witnessed the harsh treatment Shahid Afridi had to face in his early days

Shahid Afridi’s just-released autobiography “Game Changer” is turning quite a few heads ever since the excerpts from the book have been released via many different media outlets. The revelations made in the book by the former Pakistani captain have taken everyone by surprise and his attacks on the former captain and coach Waqar Younis and stories about the team atmosphere have surprised many fans and people mentioned as well.

He has also taken apart former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir in the book, admitted to ball tampering and also made statements on keeping his daughters from taking up the sports as a career. Some of those named in the book came out and defended themselves and took Afridi to the task.

Shoaib Akhtar defends Shahid Afridi

However, the treatment that he was greeted with in his initial days as a part of the Pakistan team, has neither been confirmed nor denied by those who are mentioned in the book. Recently, former Pakistani player Imran Farhat accused Afridi of ruining the career of many players in the team and called him selfish for doing so for the good of his career.

Afridi made his Pakistan debut in 1996, the same year as Shoaib Akhtar did and out of nowhere, Akhtar has come out and supported his former captain. According to Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq of PakPassion.net, Akhtar admitted to witnessing harsh treatment meted out to him in his initial days in the team and agreed with what he had written in his book.

“Shahid Afridi has actually written less than he could have in his book about the harsh treatment he received from senior players during his playing days. I witnessed some of it with my own eyes and totally agree with him,” Sadiq quotes Akhtar as saying on his Twitter account.

Afridi’s book has been released in India and Pakistan and has turned quite a few heads with claims of Waqar being a mediocre captain and terrible coach, not liking Imran Khan’s captaincy, his issues with Gautam Gambhir, and not reporting his knowledge of 2010 spot-fixing scandal to ICC.

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