Mohammad Akram has hit out at the PCB for not handling speedster Shoaib Akhtar in a more determined and disciplined way.

Akram, who had a brief stint with the Pakistani team said the Board had overindulged in Shoaib.

Shoaib, 33, has spent most of 2008 embroiled in a legal battle with the Pakistan Cricket Board, who banned him for five years in April for criticising their selection policy, only to later reduce the ban to 18 months and then suspend it pending a verdict from an appeal court.

While their lawyers argued in favour of the ban, the PCB took advantage of the suspension of the sentence to select Shoaib in their Champions Trophy squad, and then made his inclusion dependent on him paying a fine, which he did not do.

The current controversy comes two years after Shoaib tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance nandrolone, and was ruled out of the 2007 Cricket World Cup while an appeal was heard that ultimately led to his acquittal.

Such events have served to deny Pakistan the services of a bowler reckoned to be the fastest in the world, and Akram, who made nine Test appearances for Pakistan, believes his talents have been squandered by a failure to impose discipline on the player early in his career.

"When it comes to Shoaib as a cricketer, I always think 'what a waste'," Akram told PakPassion.Net.

"He wasn't handled correctly, the treatment he's receiving now is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted," Akram added. "What good does it do to ban him for a year when at best he'll only last for another year anyway, maybe not even that?

"It's worthless to ban him now, they should've done this to him when he was a lot younger, that was when they should have taken harsh action and imposed long bans on him."

Akram added that the root cause of the problem is the administration of the game in Pakistan, blaming officials with insufficient knowledge of the game.

"The selectors and the PCB had no idea what to do with him and that's because most of these officials get their jobs through political assignments with the backing of some prime minister or some general," he said.

"These political appointees come into the fray with little or no knowledge of Pakistani cricket or how to improve it.

"When (Shoaib) needed strict discipline and tough love he was allowed to do as he pleased and now when he needs to be handled with the velvet glove he's getting the iron fist."

Akram, who played with Shoaib at Rawalpindi earlier in his career, says the image of Shoaib's character has become distorted amid the controversies, and he is not as arrogant as is made out.

"If you know Shoaib then he's a lovely chap to be around, you'll really enjoy his company and you'll certainly never be bored," he said.

"However if you don't know him then it's a different story, he's that sort of character. To understand Shoaib you have to get to know him, once you get to know him, you can understand where he's coming from and what he's talking about."

Akram added that Shoaib, known as the Rawalpindi Express for his ability to bowl at 100mph, was kept in line by his hometown team because he was never singled out for special treatment.

"We used to play together for Rawalpindi and there were never any problems with him because we never gave him that much importance," Akram said.

"The PCB should've been tough with him from the outset and dropped him early on in his career. If he was hungry to play cricket then he would've sorted himself out and come back fitter, stronger and more disciplined."

Shoaib's appeal against his PCB ban was due to be heard on Tuesday but was postponed by the Lahore High Court due to the unavailability of the presiding judge, with a new date to be set within the next week.