01 February 2005	Tuesday	21 Zilhaj 1425

ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Shoaib Akhtar on Monday hit back at former captain Wasim Akram and said that there was a lobby conspiring against him. "I have been made the scapegoat whenever something goes wrong," he told journalists at the Diamond Cricket Ground.

"I respect Wasim very much, he was a great bowler but his comments that I was no longer a match-winner have really hurt me; I would say that he should keep his views to himself. "If you pick up the records when Wasim was the captain, you would know who was taking most of the wickets."

Shoaib was surprised that while Wasim was so generous in his praise of India's Irfan Pathan, why could he not support and encourage his own countrymen. He dismissed as trash recent pictures in the press showing him with girls in a night club and termed it an attempt by that lobby to degrade him.

The fast bowler who returned from Australia last week after suffering a hamstring injury said that the pictures run by Star News India were picked up from the internet.

"Australia's Herald Sun did not publish them; this is an age of technology and photographs can be tampered with easily." "Every day I have fans wanting their photographs taken with me, and say if a female fan comes up to me and puts a hand around my shoulder or holds my hand in so doing, those photos too could be shown to have been taken in a night club."

He pointed out that photographs and recorded tapes did not hold good in a court of law and that he had no plans to sue anyone anyway. "No explanation has been sought from me by PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) or anyone else for they know that it has been another attempt to tarnish my image."

While saying that he was not interested in captaincy, Shoaib said that it was a matter that should be best left to the PCB. He also spoke about the Indian tour beginning this month. "It is going to be tough but I think we can win there."

"Although our team is inconsistent, a lot would depend on how the senior players fare; I don't think they'll make fast wickets in India." About the Australian tour he felt there was too much load on him as a strike bowler and that he was not getting much support from his team mates.

"I was bowling at speeds of 150km to six or seven batsmen who are all capable of putting on big scores; to win Test matches you have to have three genuine fast bowlers." "There are only two bowlers currently bowling at speeds of 150, so there is always a chance of one getting injured; no fast bowler today is playing a full series."

With so much cricket being played these days every paceman gets injured, Shoaib said. "Glen McGrath, Brett Lee, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and others all suffer injuries." Shoaib, who had ignored calls from coach Bob Woolmer to reduce his run-up felt that cutting down on it was not the answer. "We need to play fewer one-day matches."