Shoaib Akhtar has sought the services of Andrew Flintoff's surgeon Andrew Williams for his knee injury problems.

By Bipin Dani

"The appointment is confirmed and Dr. Andrew Williams will be seeing his patient (Shoaib Akhtar) on Tuesday evening at the Wellington Hospital", the London-based hospital sources revealed exclusively to this scribe.

Interestingly, Dr Andrew Williams is the same surgeon who operated upon English allrounder Andrew Flintoff very recently. However, the recommendation to Shoaib to visit Dr Williams was not made by the burly Lancaster but the pacer's Lahore-based doctor friend, Dr Tauseef Razzak.

Speaking from Lahore, Dr Tauseef Razzak said, "Shoaib has been going to UK to seek doctor's opinion and only if required, will opt for the surgery. A doctor friend of mine from USA suggested me Dr Williams' name and I in turn recommended the Englishman's name to Shoaib. He is visiting the doctor alone on 6th October and based on the doctor's findings, Akhtar would be under the scalpel".

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Shoaib will certainly be out of competitive cricket for more than a month if he undergoes a knee surgery in England next week. After the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to foot the bill of the bowler's treatment, the total expenses will be paid by bowler himself.

Shoaib finds discomfort with his both knees. This is not for the time that Shoaib Akhtar has been troubled by his knees. He underwent an arthroscopic surgery on both his knees in Australia in February 2006 under the guidance of Melbourne based Dr David Young.

Muthiah Muralidharan, Lasith Malinga and more recently Bangladesh captain Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Ishant Sharma were Dr. Young's patients.

Dr Andrew Michael Williams, an orthopaedic surgeon (knee and sports medicine specialist), is associated with London's Wellington Hospital and is England's one of the best known knee surgeons for most sportsmen, including football and rugby players.

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