Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has responded to a legal notice issued by sports journalist Dr Nauman Niaz, following a controversial remark made during a cricket show, The Dugout, on May 25, 2025.

 

While discussing the coaching and management system of the Pakistan cricket team, Shoaib Akhtar remarked, “Back in my time, I didn’t even know who the coach was. We didn’t know who the manager was either.”

 

He went on to say, “All we knew was whether our bags had reached our rooms or not. The manager was there just for that," adding that Dr Nauman "used to carry our bags, that’s why he was there, right? He’d type something on a computer and make sure our bags got to our rooms.”

 

Dr Nauman Niaz took offence to the remarks, calling them defamatory and damaging to his reputation, and subsequently issued a legal notice to Shoaib Akhtar.

 

In response, Akhtar, through his lawyer, Advocate Abu Zar Salman Niazi, denied all allegations and rejected the claims made in the notice.

 

He asserted that the comment was made during a live show and should be seen as a casual statement, not as defamatory. "It is a fact that Nauman Niaz was in charge of team logistics at one point and used to carry players' bags. There's nothing defamatory in stating that," Akhtar said.

 

Earlier, in a notice sent on May 29, Dr Nauman Niaz's lawyer, Qazi Umair Ali, claimed that Shoaib Akhtar's statements had harmed his client's public image.

 

This is not the first time tensions have flared between the two. In 2021, a live TV spat between them led to Shoaib Akhtar walking off a PTV Sports show mid-air. Although he later returned to the show, the relationship between the two has remained strained since.