Former Pakistani bowler and commentator Shoaib Akhtar confirmed on Sunday on his YouTube channel that a biopic on his life titled ‘Rawalpindi Express - Running against the odds,’ will release on November 16, 2023.
The forty-six-year-old retired cricketer, who was reportedly nicknamed ‘Rawalpindi Express’ due to his ability to bowl at a speed of 100 miles an hour, shared a 25-second length video of the motion poster for his biopic on his YouTube channel.
According to the video, the movie will be directed by Muhhammad Faraz Qaiser. The motion poster showed a figure running on rail tracks and within twenty minutes of being shared on YouTube, the clip garnered five thousand views.
The actor who will portray Shoaib in the movie has not been revealed yet but the former bowler-turned-commentator had reportedly earlier expressed his desire for Bollywood actor Salman Khan to portray him in his biopic.
Shoaib made his cricketing debut for the Pakistan team in a Test match against West Indies on November 29, 1997, and went on to become the first bowler to be recorded bowling at 100 miles per hour, a feat he achieved twice in his career, according to media reports.
After a career that spanned nearly fifteen years, he retired from the sport after the ODI (One Day International) World Cup in 2011.