Saleem Malik "Treated Me Like A Servant": Wasim Akram

[MenInG]

In a startling revelation, pace legend Wasim Akram has accused his former Pakistan teammate Saleem Malik of treating him like a servant in the early part of his career. Akram, who made his international debut in 1984, said that senior teammate Malik made him give massage and clean his clothes and boots.

Akram made the revelations in his biography 'Sultan: A Memoir'. "He would take advantage of my junior status. He was negative, selfish and treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him, he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots," read an excerpt from the biography.

"I was angry when some of the younger team members in Ramiz, Tahir, Mohsin, Shoaib Mohammad invited me to nightclubs." Akram played under Malik's captaincy from 1992 to 1995 and there were reports that the two players were not on good terms.

NDTV

==

Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik in his book:

“During New Zealand tour Saleem Malik ordered me to clean his shoes and clothes, Saleem Malik thought I was his slave.”

 

[Hitman]

What!! Can anyone tell me when that tour took place. If true, what an unprofessional idiot.

 

[Zaz]

I dont think this was out of the ordinary It probably happened a lot in south asia where seniority ruled and still does to an extent

what amazes me how malik was made the scapegoat amongst several others just because he wasnt great looking and at the end of his career

its absolutely clear to me whilst malik was a shady character and was dodgy he wasnt the only one but the remaining go around acting like saints today

 

[BunnyRabbit]

What!! Can anyone tell me when that tour took place. If true, what an unprofessional idiot.

This sort of culture was a norm in Pak Cricket till 2003 atleast. Juniors would be asked by seniors to bring them water, clothes and were made to run around and do chores by seniors.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik in his book:

“During New Zealand tour Saleem Malik ordered me to clean his shoes and clothes, Saleem Malik thought I was his slave.”

Just a week or two back in The Pavilion, Wasim was asked about Saleem Malik and he had nothing but praise and respect for him. Some people are so hypocritical.

 

[MenInG]

Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik in his book:

“During New Zealand tour Saleem Malik ordered me to clean his shoes and clothes, Saleem Malik thought I was his slave.”

Saleem Malik's reply:

“I was trying to call him but he did not answer. I will ask him what was the reason for writing what he did"

“Its not as if he was washing it by hand" (in response to allegation that Wasim Akram was asked to wash clothes)

“If I was narrow minded, I would not have given him the chance to bowl"

 

[MenInG]

Not sure if Saleem Malik was the only player trying out his seniority - could have been others too as thay may well have been the culture then?

 

[Savak]

Not sure if Saleem Malik was the only player trying out his seniority - could have been others too as thay may well have been the culture then?

Pakistan's dressing room especially in the 90's was like this. Junior players had to spend from their own pocket to buy food for the seniors to get into their good pockets and to remain in their good books. Yaari, dostian have always taken precedent in the Pakistani team over proper performances.

 

[Savak]

Wasim should be the last one to talk. He himself abused his seniority in the dressing room in the 90's, junior players in the 90's were told to get lost and sit outside the dressing room so that the senior players could have their quality alone time in the dressing room.

Both Akhtar and Afridi have mentioned and hinted at this dressing room culture they walked into early on in their careers.

Javed Miandad himself behaved like this. In the 92 WC when Inzi was having his worst form with the bat, Miandad in a team meeting finally lost it when IK kept insisting on Inzis selection and that Inzi would be the one to win him the WC, Miandad went into a tirade, who the hell is this guy, kahaan se utha ke laaya hai isko. Inzi was so demoralized, nerve wrecked that he went to the team washroom and broke down badly, had a nervous break down. Ramiz has confirmed this episode.

 

[Suleiman]

And then people say the 90s team was not good enough for xyz reason.

No. It didn’t perform as well as it should have due to all this infighting. Imagine every game, every warm up session where you have cliques, power struggles, arguements, etc. how on earth will such a team win big games and series deciders. It won’t. No matter how skilled the team is.

It was a fantastic team on skill let down by its own pride, pettiness and greed (of some players).

 

[Bewal Express]

Sounds like English football back in the day.

 

[ElRaja]

malik got wasim to wash his clothes, wasim got ata ur rehman to fix games, lol.

totally want to swerve the whole wasim biography saga knowing how tainted he is, whats the point of the book if ur not gonna tell the truth.

 

[Saj]

It's a culture thing in Pakistan cricket.

I remember being at the team hotel and seeing one of the senior players dump his dirty kit on one of the younger players and telling him to make sure it was taken to the laundry.

Seniors rule!

 

[Snowflake]

It's a culture thing in Pakistan cricket.

I remember being at the team hotel and seeing one of the senior players dump his dirty kit on one of the younger players and telling him to make sure it was taken to the laundry.

Seniors rule!

I believe this is one thing that’s been rooted out from the team in recent times.

 

[Markhor]

It's a culture thing in Pakistan cricket.

I remember being at the team hotel and seeing one of the senior players dump his dirty kit on one of the younger players and telling him to make sure it was taken to the laundry.

Seniors rule!

To be honest it's not unique to Pakistan cricket.

Brian Lara tells the story of how as a junior WI player he got to the ground early one day and left his bag on the seat in the dressing room.

Eventually the WI team arrives and Lara sees his bags hurled out of the room. They were placed in Viv Richards' spot.

Faf du Plessis tells a story in his book how after breaking into his FC team - senior player Daryll Cullinan cursed out Faf for sitting next to him on a sofa. He felt the young Faf hadn't earned the right to sit with him on a sofa.

This abuse of seniority status unfortunately seemed to be the norm in those days.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Saleem Malik's reply:

“I was trying to call him but he did not answer. I will ask him what was the reason for writing what he did"

“Its not as if he was washing it by hand" (in response to allegation that Wasim Akram was asked to wash clothes)

“If I was narrow minded, I would not have given him the chance to bowl"

The bolded really made me laugh.

A Saleem Malik autobiography would certainly be interesting

Waseem seems to be going for playing the victim in his autobiography. I wonder how many players he would have similarly mistreated when he was more senior in the team.

 

[Rana]

The bolded really made me laugh.

A Saleem Malik autobiography would certainly be interesting

Waseem seems to be going for playing the victim in his autobiography. I wonder how many players he would have similarly mistreated when he was more senior in the team.

Wasim is the kind of guy who would rope in the juniors more to build his lobby

Even when Misbah was head coach the players would be messaging him all the time to complain to him about Misbah’s tough work ethics. He admitted this on the pavilion

 

[Mamoon]

Saleem Malik missed a golden opportunity of mocking him for his embarrassing Ariel washing powder ads.

 

[Savak]

I remember when Shoaib Malik was appointed captain in 2007 and Salman Butt was appointed the VC. The then PCB administration by practice wanted to lay down the lawbook by force i.e. the PCB was the boss and senior players had to toe the line. Many senior players in the team back then i.e. Afridi, Razzaq, Yousaf, Akhtar, Younis Khan e.t.c. started being spoken to very disrespectfully by PCB officials and there was a big fear and sentiments that the PCB were desperate to find a way to kick out all the senior players in the team so that they could have an all junior team.

During one of the training camps, in the team bus Afridi requested Salman Butt (the vice captain) to please sit at the back of the bus. Apparently this was the practice where senior players in the team preferred to sit in the front as it was easier to get inside and outside the bus. Salman Butt vacated his seat but Talat Ali the team manager humiliated Afridi by telling Butt to sit where he is sitting and told Afridi to get lost at the back. Afridi was shell shocked and got into a shouting match and even got physical with Talat Ali and had to be restrained by the players over there.

The PCB decided to discipline Afridi and banned him, told him to go home. The senior players in the team revolted and the PCB under pressure reversed its decision and Afridi apologized to Butt and Talat Ali.

 

[moghul]

In a startling revelation, pace legend Wasim Akram has accused his former Pakistan teammate Saleem Malik of treating him like a servant in the early part of his career. Akram, who made his international debut in 1984, said that senior teammate Malik made him give massage and clean his clothes and boots.

Akram made the revelations in his biography 'Sultan: A Memoir'. "He would take advantage of my junior status. He was negative, selfish and treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him, he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots," read an excerpt from the biography.

"I was angry when some of the younger team members in Ramiz, Tahir, Mohsin, Shoaib Mohammad invited me to nightclubs." Akram played under Malik's captaincy from 1992 to 1995 and there were reports that the two players were not on good terms.

NDTV

==

Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik in his book:

“During New Zealand tour Saleem Malik ordered me to clean his shoes and clothes, Saleem Malik thought I was his slave.”

I don't believe this, Wasim is trying to pour too much masala to sell his book, I won't buy it . First his cocain story and now this.

 

[moghul]

The bolded really made me laugh.

A Saleem Malik autobiography would certainly be interesting

Waseem seems to be going for playing the victim in his autobiography. I wonder how many players he would have similarly mistreated when he was more senior in the team.

We all know how Wasim treat Waqar under his captaincy. Waqar hardly got a game those days .

 

[Suleiman]

Idk why Wasim is digging up the past despite him being the center of one of the first real spot fixing controversies that paved the way for many more for Pakistan cricket after his.

If he reads this then he’ll get mad saying the new gen call me a fixer etc etc.

Well, you keep digging up the past and throwing dirt here and there even though 20 years back a good bunch of your teammates may have had the same opinion you have of Saleem Malik.

At the end of the day, no one got convicted, and most of us are willing to move on based on “innocent till proven guilty”yet you keep wanting to hang on to those dark days.

 

[KyoOne]

Seniority culture still exists to this day, maybe not to the extent as was before.

Rizwan asked for review in Asia Cup final, Babar scolded him saying "I'm the captain". All juniors always heap extraordinary praises on Babar so that they don't face the fate of Imad Wasim. When in squad, useless players like Azhar Ali or Hasan Ali keep playing due to their seniority despite there being better younger players on the bench.

 

[Aseem_04]

Book selling agendas

 

[Local.Dada]

If I had to pick one between Saleem Malik and Wasim Akram when it comes to being reliable, my choice is very clear.

It’s Wasim Akram FYI

 

[Varun]

Saleem Malik's reply:

“Its not as if he was washing it by hand" (in response to allegation that Wasim Akram was asked to wash clothes)

“If I was narrow minded, I would not have given him the chance to bowl"

What a terrible defence by Saleem Malik.

 

[Varun]

I wonder what the Indian dressing room was like - in this period of the 80s and 90s. Wouldn't have been too dissimilar.

 

[karthikc]

I wonder what the Indian dressing room was like - in this period of the 80s and 90s. Wouldn't have been too dissimilar.

More of cold war..not open confrontations..and certainly no rebellions by players

 

[zaidihusain]

Seniority culture still exists to this day, maybe not to the extent as was before.

Rizwan asked for review in Asia Cup final, Babar scolded him saying "I'm the captain". All juniors always heap extraordinary praises on Babar so that they don't face the fate of Imad Wasim. When in squad, useless players like Azhar Ali or Hasan Ali keep playing due to their seniority despite there being better younger players on the bench.

I agree on other points you raised but Rizwan was clearly at fault in that DRS case. When the team is bowling, Captain who is the leader of team is present on the field. No other player can unilaterally decide to take DRS without captain's consent. Bowler & Keeper can provide their inputs but decision to take DRS rest with the captain

 

[happydavy]

Pakistan board and cricketers since last 20 years have found an easy scapegoat in Salim Malik. I have no doubt that he was corrupt but by banning only him they made it look like that everyone was honest baring him, while everyone knows what the truth is. Malik on TV has even accepted that he took money, but also made the claim that so did 9 others.

 

[happydavy]

And i wonder with all these erstwhile fixers, does such whitewashing attempts ever help? Hansie Cronje's brother made a documentary on netflix showing that he never took money to loose a match, Azhar got a movie made and now Akram with this book. While i can understand why they are trying hard but I doubt that even 1% people change their opinions on watching such movies or reading such books. If at all, the subject gets discussed and more and more people come to know of what actually happened then. Even the younger generation, who were born in late 90s or 2000s end up reading justice chandrachud or justice qayyam report on internet and are able to figure out what big crooks these guys were. Unfortunately, in our part of the world, its not really a stain as these cricketers still get job of analysts, commentators, chief guests etc etc.

 

[Varun]

And i wonder with all these erstwhile fixers, does such whitewashing attempts ever help? Hansie Cronje's brother made a documentary on netflix showing that he never took money to loose a match, Azhar got a movie made and now Akram with this book. While i can understand why they are trying hard but I doubt that even 1% people change their opinions on watching such movies or reading such books. If at all, the subject gets discussed and more and more people come to know of what actually happened then. Even the younger generation, who were born in late 90s or 2000s end up reading justice chandrachud or justice qayyam report on internet and are able to figure out what big crooks these guys were. Unfortunately, in our part of the world, its not really a stain as these cricketers still get job of analysts, commentators, chief guests etc etc.

Yes it's unfortunate that that is the case, but as long as the perception exists and these fixers are unable to sleep well at night that is good enough for me.

 

[Local.Dada]

I wonder what the Indian dressing room was like - in this period of the 80s and 90s. Wouldn't have been too dissimilar.

Kapil and Sunil Gavaskar admitted they had tensions and back in the day there was Mumbai lobby, Karnataka lobby, Delhi/Punjab lobby, TN lobby etc. They didn’t have conflicts or fights but definitely were not gelled as a team. It was still a huge leap from the 50s and 60s, to some extent Pataudi changed that and after the 83 wc win and 85 World Series win it diffused a little as BCCI and not the players became the big boss so everyone fell in line. In fact we see that coming back a little now with franchise system. While it’s no longer region based, now it’s all commercial interests etc.

Surpringly Pakistan team had only max 2 regions to deal with but still the players had their own personal ambitions etc.

I feel 83 wc win changed the Indian team for better while 92 win opened the door for every player to think he can become a captain and in turn become larger than life. Even the most obscure tournaments have 92 wc references while apart from a mediocre Bollywood movie 83 wc is not spoken of much outside of the odd nostalgia.

For all the flaws BCCI becoming too big to fail kind of diffused the player power.

 

[BaankeJi]

Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik

Recently I got a copy of Wasim Akram's book "Sultan". It's very interesting as I expected it to be. One thing that Akram mentions in this book is that on his first tour to New Zealand in 1987 , he was room mate with Saleem Malik. This is what he has to say about Malik:

"He was negative, selfish, treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him; he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots."

I find it so offensive. How can someone be so mean?

If it has been discussed already, delete this. Thank you.

 

[JattMaula]

Recently I got a copy of Wasim Akram's book "Sultan". It's very interesting as I expected it to be. One thing that Akram mentions in this book is that on his first tour to New Zealand in 1987 , he was room mate with Saleem Malik. This is what he has to say about Malik:

"He was negative, selfish, treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him; he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots."

I find it so offensive. How can someone be so mean?

If it has been discussed already, delete this. Thank you.

Treating junior teammates badly was a unfortunate norm at that time. Add in the elder reverence and class discrimination baked into our culture, it was horrible for newbies.

I recall Indian international newbies being surprised in early aughts by professional and welcoming dressing room.

 

[Saj]

Recently I got a copy of Wasim Akram's book "Sultan". It's very interesting as I expected it to be. One thing that Akram mentions in this book is that on his first tour to New Zealand in 1987 , he was room mate with Saleem Malik. This is what he has to say about Malik:

"He was negative, selfish, treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him; he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots."

I find it so offensive. How can someone be so mean?

If it has been discussed already, delete this. Thank you.

Probably the norm over the years in Pakistan cricket. Seniors order the junior players around as if they are their servants and nobody says anything about it.

 

[BaankeJi]

Treating junior teammates badly was a unfortunate norm at that time. Add in the elder reverence and class discrimination baked into our culture, it was horrible for newbies.

I recall Indian international newbies being surprised in early aughts by professional and welcoming dressing room.

Probably the norm over the years in Pakistan cricket. Seniors order the junior players around as if they are their servants and nobody says anything about it.

There were other seniors also in the team at that time who treated Wasim with kindness and respect. Imran, Javed, Mudsssar, Zaheer Abbas etc .