Shoaib Akhtar calls PCB's legal counsel Tafazzul Rizvi's defamation notice legally defective, meritless

Former Pakistan fast bowleer Shoaib Akhtar on Tuesday (May 12)  responded to the defamation notice sent to him by Pakistan Cricket Board's legal counsel Tafazzul Rizvi, calling it "legally defective, merit-less and misconceived".

Akhtar, who is known for his lose temper, sought an unconditional apology from Rizvi for trying to "publicly humiliate, degrade, defame and ridicule" him.

"Whatever I said on my channel was for betterment off Pakistan cricket and to point out to the board where it needed to put things right. Whatever I said about Rizvi was based on my personal interaction with him," Akhtar said.

"My comments about PCB & Mr. Rizvi are expression of opinion given in public interest to point out shortcomings in PCB with hope for improvement," he tweeted.

PCB's legal counsel Rizvi decided to send the defamation notice to former Pakistan player after he called Rizvi "inept" while criticising the three-year ban imposed on former Pakistan international Umar Akmal for failing to report corrupt approaches.

Rizvi has demanded an unconditional apology from Akhtar and said that the compensation of Rs 10 million taken from Akhatr should be donated to a charity. But Akhtar is in no mood to apologise and he has inssisted to take on Rizvi in the court of law.

Meanwhile, the PCB has released a statement saying that Rizvi had taken action Akhtar in his personal capacity. The PCB, however, criticised Akhtar for making these comments publicly.