LAHORE, Jan 18: Former Pak-istan cricket captain Imran Khan on Friday backed maverick fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, saying he has been dropped as a “scapegoat” for the team’s series loss to India.

Pakistan last week omitted the injury-prone Shoaib from the squad for the five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe, saying the paceman will have to play in domestic matches to prove his fitness.

The 32-year-old fast bowler, nicknamed the “Rawalpindi Express,” was also criticised for his off-field activities on the tour of India, where Pakistan lost the one-day series 3-2 and Tests 1-0.

“Malice is always a big problem and it’s easy to find scapegoats after defeats. But I think if Shoaib Akhtar is fit, he is still head and shoulders above other bowlers,” Imran told AFP.

Shoaib took six wickets in the first Test in New Delhi, where Pakistan lost by six wickets. He played the next two Tests but was not at full fitness.

He also showed interest in signing on for a Bollywood film, raising doubts over his cricket future. Shoaib, however, denied he was leaving the sport to join Bollywood. “I want to play cricket and just showing a little interest in films doesn’t mean I am leaving the game. I want to play against Zimbabwe to be ready to face Australia,” He said on Sunday.

Pakistan host Australia in March-April this year.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf has criticised Akhtar’s showbiz leanings, saying a governing body meeting on Jan 25 may take disciplinary action but Imran thinks that that would be unjust. “I was critical of Shoaib in India because he got injured in the last Test, but disciplinary action cannot be taken in retrospect and the team management should have taken it on the tour,” he said.

Imran said Pakistan can only dispense with Shoaib if they find someone better.“There were occasions when Shoaib was at his best, even on the India tour, so unless Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul attain peak form and there are adequate replacements you cannot leave out Shoaib,” he said.

Imran said Pakistan need to lift the standard of domestic cricket in order to produce quality cricketers. “The non-competitive first class structure is the bane of Pakistan cricket,” he said.

“Misbah-ul Haq’s failure to find a place in the national team despite performing well in first-class seasons is proof of that and we may have lost a lot of such players in the same way,” he said.—AFP