Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday expressed his frustration at skipping the Indian tour due to injury but dismissed claims that he pulled out of the high-profile series for fear of failure.
Shoaib, who cited a hamstring injury as the reason for not playing in the series, said he had missed a great opportunity to make a name for himself.
"That was such an opportunity. You do something and you make yourself a big name," the maverick 29-year-old fast bowler said.
"If you don't do it, you get a bad name," he added.
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Less than 24 hours before withdrawing from the tour of India, Shoaib, who has missed 30 of Pakistan's 66 Tests since making his debut in 1997, was fined USD 500 and reprimanded for indiscipline.
Shoaib was also not too sure about recovering in time for the six-match one-day series starting at Kochi from April 2.
"I'm there to serve my country as best as I can. But if I'm fully fit I can do a better job," said Shoaib, the only bowler in history to have twice broken the 100-mile barrier.
"I had a good chat with my consultant and doctors and they asked me to rest because hamstring problems always take a bit longer than you think."
Shoaib admitted that he had played half-fit on the recent tour of Australia where Pakistan were beaten in all three Tests.
"We always take chances, we always play with niggles and with injuries. I don't know a fast bowler who doesn't. But what people don't understand is a fast bowler can't play every game because it is too hard to do that.
"The amount of cricket we are playing nowadays is not easy at all."
Shoaib said even without him, Pakistan had the capacity to beat India in the forthcoming series.
"They have great players and if they put it together we have a great chance to win. Our team is a strong unit after being beaten by Australia -- we learnt a lot from that and that will help us."
