October 18, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 24, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

JAIPUR, Oct 17: Pakistan’s pace ace Shoaib Akhtar, in a rare show of emotions, broke down here on Monday when team manager Talat Ali informed him of testing positive for the banned drug.

Shoaib, who was having breakfast in the hotel restaurant at the time, suddenly appeared grim and rushed to his room. The Pakistan superstar later emerged from his hotel room, bleary-eyed and looking quite shattered with the tragic development.

This was certainly not the Shoaib that the world is so accustomed to see, a superbrat with demonic looks and a big mouth. A security official in charge of the Pakistan team disclosed the fast bowler was distraught and nothing could console him.

Mohammad Asif, who is relatively new to the team, handled the situation in a much more calm manner.

He looked grim but did not say anything while the Pakistan team management held a short meeting with the two players. Later, coach Bob Woolmer also had a one-to-one meeting with Shoaib and Asif.

Soon afterwards, it was finalised that the pace duo would be flying home. The team management decided that the two would leave for Delhi by road as flight from Jaipur to Delhi was not available before evening.

A tinted-glass Toyota was brought at the hotel's rear entrance to pick up the suspended players but none of the team members came out to see them off.

According to a Rajasthan police sub-inspector, who accompanied the players to Delhi, Shoaib looked extremely annoyed and kept repeating throughout the journey that he had become a victim of internal politics in the Pakistan Cricket Board and this was a conspiracy against him.