LAHORE, July 12: World’s fastest bowler Shoaib Akhtar is not happy with the ‘free-hit’ rule and a few other ones recently introduced by the International Cricket Council in one-day cricket and feels that it is a nonsensical rule as it benefits only the batsmen while putting down the bowlers.

Talking to reporters after joining the fitness training camp at the Gaddafi Stadium on its third day after a brief illness, Shoaib said there were already batting strips being prepared for the international cricket the world over which gave an undue advantage to batsmen to maul the bowlers at will.

“The batsmen are getting more benefits of the new rules but it is discouraging for the the fast bowlers and it is why there is a dearth of pacers in world cricket today,” said Shoaib.

He hailed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for its fine dealing of his and Mohammad Asif's doping case which resulted in the two players getting exonerated from Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) recently.

“The CAS gave its verdict in our favour which means the PCB dealt with the case according to the rules,” he said.

He further praised the PCB for giving its full support to both the bowlers when they were in trouble due to positive dope tests.

Shoaib said the PCB took a right decision of not sending him for the Afro-Asian series which was held last month in India.

“The decision of not playing in the Afro-Asian series helped me a lot to improve my fitness level and I appreciate the PCB for advising me to only play the important games,” he said.

He, however, lamented that the washed-out two-match series in Scotland this month deprived him of some good practice and competitive cricket.

Commenting on the forthcoming Twenty20 Cup in South Africa, Shoaib said Pakistan team would perform at its best although he shied away from predicting the result. “We are strong in every department of the game and we will try to give our best in the Twenty20 Cup.”