The world of cricket isn't alienated to fast-bowling talents capturing the imagination of fans with their unmatched skills on the international circuit. 

While Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Ian Bishop dominated the fast-bowling circuit in the 70s and 80s, the 90s saw Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose carrying on the legacy for the West Indies. 

But, the late 90s saw a shift in the fast-bowling paradigm. For probably the first time, international cricket saw the emergence of two non-West Indian bowlers dominating the fast-bowling charts. 

Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar made the fast bowling their own little playground, hurting the opposition with intimidating run-ups, sheer pace and impeccable. 

While both the pacers excelled as exponents of extreme speed over a decade, Lee, owing to his flashy smile, was regarded as the righteous one as opposed to Akhtar's reputation as the bad boy of cricket. Despite emerging on the international circuit with great, the Pakistani bowler, sadly, could only end his career as an 'if only' or 'could've been' cricketer. 

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It was during his tenure as ICC president that Akhtar's case of ball chucking came to the fore. Despite his fellow ICC members suggesting strict action against the Pakistani speedster, Dalmiya took a stand and supported Akhtar in the times of great crisis in his career. The incident was recently disclosed by a former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president. 

Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia, who headed PCB from 1999 to 2003, revealed how Dalmiya saved Akhtar's career. "Jagmohan, who had been president of the ICC and was an influential voice, supported us a lot in the Shoaib Akhtar bowling action case. He took a stand for us despite the ICC members insisting that Akhtar's bowling action was illegal," Zia told PTI. 

"But due to the stance taken by Dalmiya and myself, the ICC eventually conceded that Akhtar had a medical flaw in his bowling arm since birth which gave him hyper elbow extension and he was allowed to play on," he added. 

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