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"When England learned the art, name was changed from ball-tampering to reverse-swing" : Wasim Akram
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=156623
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was in town to conduct a workshop for Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers and coaches earlier this week. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have always had cordial relationships as nations and particularly in cricket. It was one of Wasim’s predecessors – Abdul Hafeez Kardar – Pakistan’s first Test captain, who promoted Sri Lanka’s bid as a Full Member of the ICC during his time as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Wasim is revered all over the world, but the admiration he receives in Sri Lanka is unparalleled. Wasim’s love for Sri Lanka is reciprocal. Partially, it’s because he has an outstanding record against Sri Lanka. With both bat and ball, Wasim performed better than his career stats against Sri Lanka. For example, in Tests, he averaged 22 with the bat and 23 with the ball. Against Sri Lanka, there’s a significant improvement as he averaged 28 with the bat and an outstanding 21 with the ball. While in ODIs, he averaged 23 with the ball overall, against Sri Lanka it was a spectacular 20.
After his workshop, Sunday Island caught up with Wasim. In this exclusive interview, Wasim speaks on his memories of Sri Lanka, Imran Khan’s influence on his life, the status of Pakistan cricket, being part of the joint India – Pakistan team that toured Sri Lanka during troubled times in 1996 and much more.
Here are the excerpts.
Sunday Island: Obviously you have an outstanding record against Sri Lanka. That includes two back-to-back hat-tricks in Test cricket in late 1990s. Tell us about some of these memories.
Wasim Akram: I have got great memories of Sri Lanka. The very first time I came here I fell in love with the people. What this amazing country has done to me is to give positive energy. I see people here are always happy. Doesn’t matter whether the people are rich or poor. Everyone is very friendly and happy. They always give you that friendly smile and that’s something that I always liked about the Sri Lankans. I loved touring here although the cricket was very tough. You have had some amazing players over the years. The weather is very challenging as well. The wickets are dead and Arjuna and Aravinda used to bat the whole day. It was fun. We had great battles on the field, but fun off the field. This is also my favourite holiday destination. I love coming here. I remember taking my 400th wicket at SSC and on Wednesday as I walked into the ground to conduct the workshop for fast bowlers, those memories came flooding in. Then Colombo is booming. I am so happy for the country.
Sunday Island: You seem to have got great mates as well over here in Sri Lanka.
Wasim Akram: Correct, but we were fierce competitors on the field. I used to have a go at Arjuna verbally, but off the field Arjuna and Aravinda were true friends. They were great Sri Lankan ambassadors. They showed true Sri Lankan spirit. They were fierce, but had control. Their aggression was controlled aggression. That’s very important for the great game that we all love.
Sunday Island: The Central Bank Bombing on the 31st January 1996 killed 91 people and Australia and West Indies called off their World Cup commitments in Colombo due to security concerns. India and Pakistan in a magnanimous gesture sent a joint team. You were Pakistan’s captain then and not only did you come down, but you agreed to play under Mohammad Azharuddin as well.
Wasim Akram: My cricket board rang up and told me, this is the problem and as a result Australia and West Indies are threatening to pull out from their World Cup games. My cricket board suggested that I should go with some of my team mates to Colombo together with some Indian players to play a friendly game. The first thing I asked was what time is the flight? There was no doubt in my mind whatsoever that I should come here and play that game. I was asked aren’t you worried. I asked worried about what? I have been invited by the Sri Lankan government and I am confident that all Sri Lankans will make sure that we are safe. My family was fine with it. My wife and everybody said you must go. And I remember when we came here, we were looked after like the Royalty. I still have a lot of friends. My long term plan is to buy a land here eventually when foreigners can buy. Buy something and come and spend a couple of weeks every three months or so. It’s a beautiful holiday destination.
Sunday Island: At the moment Pakistan have lost a series to New Zealand, but overall they have done remarkably well in the last two years. Not too long ago they were ranked number one in the world in Test cricket. How happy are you given the fact that Pakistan have not played any cricket at home for the last seven years.
Wasim Akram: It’s a massive achievement to be ranked number one although it was for a couple of weeks. Imagine we haven’t played any cricket since the tragic incidents of 2009. But cricket in Pakistan is struggling. Not only international cricket, but cricket in general. You see our First Class structure is not there where it should be. Today I saw a plan presented by the President of Sri Lanka Cricket, the schedule for 2017. There are several ‘A’ tours, there are plans for First Class cricket, tours for the main team. It’s perfectly planned. We need someone like him for Pakistan cricket to get the ball rolling. That’s not happening in Pakistan cricket. I mean our board - Najam Sethi and Sharhyar Khan, they are good people. They mean well for cricket. But the domestic cricket structure needs to be looked at seriously. That’s not happening.
Sunday Island: The fact that there’s been no international cricket at all in Pakistan for the last seven years, how big a blow is that?
Wasim Akram: It’s a massive blow. Imagine I grew up watching all these greats at the Gaddafi Stadium. Test cricket taking place there; Viv Richards, Greg Chappell, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar came there and played. The mighty West Indies were in Pakistan. Now these youngsters don’t have anything. Stadiums are empty. Karachi Stadium is in ruins. First Class cricket is happening but nobody watches. It’s a very sad story for Pakistan cricket. But we have still managed to produce world class players. The main thing is that the passion is still there.
Sunday Island: You have watched a lot of T-20 cricket as a commentator and have been involved in a bit of coaching as well. How would you have fared as a player?
Wasim Akram: That’s the question perhaps for you guys to answer. Maybe I would have been ideal for T-20 cricket. Two overs with the new ball, two overs with the older ball. Well, maybe one in the middle and one in the end. That would have been good. I usually whacked the ball in Test cricket. This is license to kill. I would have loved it. Twenty-20 is great entertainment. You cannot judge a player from T-20, but it’s pure entertainment. You require T-20 cricket these days for financial reasons.
It’s not quality, but quantity. Test cricket is quality.
Sunday Island: Chaminda Vaas they say is a poor man’s Wasim Akram. His records maybe not as impressive as yours, but you’ve got to give him credit for doing it for nearly two decades mostly on unresponsive tracks. Your thoughts on him.
Wasim Akram: His record is right up there I think. Over 350 Test wickets and 400 wickets in ODIs. He was a clever guy. If you ask a batsman, whom he dreads facing, someone who is quick or a medium paceman who swings the ball, he will obviously say the one who swings the ball. Chaminda Vaas has the cunning ability to outsmart the batsman. He has got variation and swing. He fought well. Sri Lankans are always fierce competitors.
Sunday Island: Tell us about the sessions you had with the Sri Lankan bowlers during your workshop. Any impressive talent?
Wasim Akram: A lot of guys have got pace and swing. It needs a little bit of tweaking. That’s why the President asked me to take a little bit of time out, come once in every three months or so and spend a week with them. I said yes. I am ready to do it. Hopefully it will all go well. I will be visiting not only Colombo, but other stations like Galle and Kandy as well to brush up the fast bowlers.
Sunday Island: Fast bowlers face a lot of injuries these days. You had your share of injuries, but you managed to play over 100 Test matches and 350 ODIs apart from a decade of County Cricket at Old Trafford.
Wasim Akram: I played close to 100 First Class games alone for Lancashire. You become what you see. If you have seven members in the support staff who are saying that ‘oh, you have a niggle and maybe you should need a rest.’ Then the bowler will say, ‘Yes, I will take a rest.’ That’s what’s happening now. Every time I woke up from sleep, I had pain somewhere in the body. Take a couple of Brufen, get a bit of a rub down and go and bowl. What’s the big deal?
Sunday Island: All cricket playing nations have had some inspirational leaders. What kind of impact did Imran Khan have on you?
Wasim Akram: He has been amazing source of inspiration both on and off the field. He took me under his wing. If you are confident as a person, that shows what you do in life. That’s what Imran did to me. He gave me confidence.
Sunday Island: The pinnacle of your career; would you say it’s winning the World Cup in 1992 where you were named Man of the Match in the final?
Wasim Akram: Ask Aravinda he will say that the 1996 World Cup is the pinnacle of his career and similarly the 1992 World Cup was my pinnacle. But look, I played over 100 Test matches. There have been some memorable Test matches. There have been some close encounters with Sri Lanka, but my favourite is the 1987 Bangalore Test against India. That was my first tour to India. India were chasing 221 to win the Test and the series. We bowled them out for 204 to win by 16 runs. We bowled 94 overs in India’s second innings and Imran used just there bowlers. Iqbal Qasim, the left-arm spinner, Tauseef Ahmed, the off-spinner and myself. Of those 94 overs, Tauseef bowled 46 overs. Literally, he bowled non-stop from one end. Then the 1999 Test in Madras when we toured India again after ten years. They needed 32 to win with four wickets in hand. Sachin was batting on 136. We dismissed Sachin and then went on to win by 12 runs. Our tour to England in 1992 soon after winning the World Cup was another awesome memory. We just thrashed England. They accused us of ball tampering. Now they have learned the art and now it has become reverse swing. So the name has been conveniently changed to reverse swing from ball tampering. They didn’t know how to do it at that stage. They were clueless.
Sunday Island: How did you learn it?
Wasim Akram: I learned it from Imran. Every Pakistani spends hours mastering this art. You see on these dead wickets how you have to learn to unsettle the batsmen. Conventional swing is sometimes not enough.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=156623
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram was in town to conduct a workshop for Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers and coaches earlier this week. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have always had cordial relationships as nations and particularly in cricket. It was one of Wasim’s predecessors – Abdul Hafeez Kardar – Pakistan’s first Test captain, who promoted Sri Lanka’s bid as a Full Member of the ICC during his time as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Wasim is revered all over the world, but the admiration he receives in Sri Lanka is unparalleled. Wasim’s love for Sri Lanka is reciprocal. Partially, it’s because he has an outstanding record against Sri Lanka. With both bat and ball, Wasim performed better than his career stats against Sri Lanka. For example, in Tests, he averaged 22 with the bat and 23 with the ball. Against Sri Lanka, there’s a significant improvement as he averaged 28 with the bat and an outstanding 21 with the ball. While in ODIs, he averaged 23 with the ball overall, against Sri Lanka it was a spectacular 20.
After his workshop, Sunday Island caught up with Wasim. In this exclusive interview, Wasim speaks on his memories of Sri Lanka, Imran Khan’s influence on his life, the status of Pakistan cricket, being part of the joint India – Pakistan team that toured Sri Lanka during troubled times in 1996 and much more.
Here are the excerpts.
Sunday Island: Obviously you have an outstanding record against Sri Lanka. That includes two back-to-back hat-tricks in Test cricket in late 1990s. Tell us about some of these memories.
Wasim Akram: I have got great memories of Sri Lanka. The very first time I came here I fell in love with the people. What this amazing country has done to me is to give positive energy. I see people here are always happy. Doesn’t matter whether the people are rich or poor. Everyone is very friendly and happy. They always give you that friendly smile and that’s something that I always liked about the Sri Lankans. I loved touring here although the cricket was very tough. You have had some amazing players over the years. The weather is very challenging as well. The wickets are dead and Arjuna and Aravinda used to bat the whole day. It was fun. We had great battles on the field, but fun off the field. This is also my favourite holiday destination. I love coming here. I remember taking my 400th wicket at SSC and on Wednesday as I walked into the ground to conduct the workshop for fast bowlers, those memories came flooding in. Then Colombo is booming. I am so happy for the country.
Sunday Island: You seem to have got great mates as well over here in Sri Lanka.
Wasim Akram: Correct, but we were fierce competitors on the field. I used to have a go at Arjuna verbally, but off the field Arjuna and Aravinda were true friends. They were great Sri Lankan ambassadors. They showed true Sri Lankan spirit. They were fierce, but had control. Their aggression was controlled aggression. That’s very important for the great game that we all love.
Sunday Island: The Central Bank Bombing on the 31st January 1996 killed 91 people and Australia and West Indies called off their World Cup commitments in Colombo due to security concerns. India and Pakistan in a magnanimous gesture sent a joint team. You were Pakistan’s captain then and not only did you come down, but you agreed to play under Mohammad Azharuddin as well.
Wasim Akram: My cricket board rang up and told me, this is the problem and as a result Australia and West Indies are threatening to pull out from their World Cup games. My cricket board suggested that I should go with some of my team mates to Colombo together with some Indian players to play a friendly game. The first thing I asked was what time is the flight? There was no doubt in my mind whatsoever that I should come here and play that game. I was asked aren’t you worried. I asked worried about what? I have been invited by the Sri Lankan government and I am confident that all Sri Lankans will make sure that we are safe. My family was fine with it. My wife and everybody said you must go. And I remember when we came here, we were looked after like the Royalty. I still have a lot of friends. My long term plan is to buy a land here eventually when foreigners can buy. Buy something and come and spend a couple of weeks every three months or so. It’s a beautiful holiday destination.
Sunday Island: At the moment Pakistan have lost a series to New Zealand, but overall they have done remarkably well in the last two years. Not too long ago they were ranked number one in the world in Test cricket. How happy are you given the fact that Pakistan have not played any cricket at home for the last seven years.
Wasim Akram: It’s a massive achievement to be ranked number one although it was for a couple of weeks. Imagine we haven’t played any cricket since the tragic incidents of 2009. But cricket in Pakistan is struggling. Not only international cricket, but cricket in general. You see our First Class structure is not there where it should be. Today I saw a plan presented by the President of Sri Lanka Cricket, the schedule for 2017. There are several ‘A’ tours, there are plans for First Class cricket, tours for the main team. It’s perfectly planned. We need someone like him for Pakistan cricket to get the ball rolling. That’s not happening in Pakistan cricket. I mean our board - Najam Sethi and Sharhyar Khan, they are good people. They mean well for cricket. But the domestic cricket structure needs to be looked at seriously. That’s not happening.
Sunday Island: The fact that there’s been no international cricket at all in Pakistan for the last seven years, how big a blow is that?
Wasim Akram: It’s a massive blow. Imagine I grew up watching all these greats at the Gaddafi Stadium. Test cricket taking place there; Viv Richards, Greg Chappell, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar came there and played. The mighty West Indies were in Pakistan. Now these youngsters don’t have anything. Stadiums are empty. Karachi Stadium is in ruins. First Class cricket is happening but nobody watches. It’s a very sad story for Pakistan cricket. But we have still managed to produce world class players. The main thing is that the passion is still there.
Sunday Island: You have watched a lot of T-20 cricket as a commentator and have been involved in a bit of coaching as well. How would you have fared as a player?
Wasim Akram: That’s the question perhaps for you guys to answer. Maybe I would have been ideal for T-20 cricket. Two overs with the new ball, two overs with the older ball. Well, maybe one in the middle and one in the end. That would have been good. I usually whacked the ball in Test cricket. This is license to kill. I would have loved it. Twenty-20 is great entertainment. You cannot judge a player from T-20, but it’s pure entertainment. You require T-20 cricket these days for financial reasons.
It’s not quality, but quantity. Test cricket is quality.
Sunday Island: Chaminda Vaas they say is a poor man’s Wasim Akram. His records maybe not as impressive as yours, but you’ve got to give him credit for doing it for nearly two decades mostly on unresponsive tracks. Your thoughts on him.
Wasim Akram: His record is right up there I think. Over 350 Test wickets and 400 wickets in ODIs. He was a clever guy. If you ask a batsman, whom he dreads facing, someone who is quick or a medium paceman who swings the ball, he will obviously say the one who swings the ball. Chaminda Vaas has the cunning ability to outsmart the batsman. He has got variation and swing. He fought well. Sri Lankans are always fierce competitors.
Sunday Island: Tell us about the sessions you had with the Sri Lankan bowlers during your workshop. Any impressive talent?
Wasim Akram: A lot of guys have got pace and swing. It needs a little bit of tweaking. That’s why the President asked me to take a little bit of time out, come once in every three months or so and spend a week with them. I said yes. I am ready to do it. Hopefully it will all go well. I will be visiting not only Colombo, but other stations like Galle and Kandy as well to brush up the fast bowlers.
Sunday Island: Fast bowlers face a lot of injuries these days. You had your share of injuries, but you managed to play over 100 Test matches and 350 ODIs apart from a decade of County Cricket at Old Trafford.
Wasim Akram: I played close to 100 First Class games alone for Lancashire. You become what you see. If you have seven members in the support staff who are saying that ‘oh, you have a niggle and maybe you should need a rest.’ Then the bowler will say, ‘Yes, I will take a rest.’ That’s what’s happening now. Every time I woke up from sleep, I had pain somewhere in the body. Take a couple of Brufen, get a bit of a rub down and go and bowl. What’s the big deal?
Sunday Island: All cricket playing nations have had some inspirational leaders. What kind of impact did Imran Khan have on you?
Wasim Akram: He has been amazing source of inspiration both on and off the field. He took me under his wing. If you are confident as a person, that shows what you do in life. That’s what Imran did to me. He gave me confidence.
Sunday Island: The pinnacle of your career; would you say it’s winning the World Cup in 1992 where you were named Man of the Match in the final?
Wasim Akram: Ask Aravinda he will say that the 1996 World Cup is the pinnacle of his career and similarly the 1992 World Cup was my pinnacle. But look, I played over 100 Test matches. There have been some memorable Test matches. There have been some close encounters with Sri Lanka, but my favourite is the 1987 Bangalore Test against India. That was my first tour to India. India were chasing 221 to win the Test and the series. We bowled them out for 204 to win by 16 runs. We bowled 94 overs in India’s second innings and Imran used just there bowlers. Iqbal Qasim, the left-arm spinner, Tauseef Ahmed, the off-spinner and myself. Of those 94 overs, Tauseef bowled 46 overs. Literally, he bowled non-stop from one end. Then the 1999 Test in Madras when we toured India again after ten years. They needed 32 to win with four wickets in hand. Sachin was batting on 136. We dismissed Sachin and then went on to win by 12 runs. Our tour to England in 1992 soon after winning the World Cup was another awesome memory. We just thrashed England. They accused us of ball tampering. Now they have learned the art and now it has become reverse swing. So the name has been conveniently changed to reverse swing from ball tampering. They didn’t know how to do it at that stage. They were clueless.
Sunday Island: How did you learn it?
Wasim Akram: I learned it from Imran. Every Pakistani spends hours mastering this art. You see on these dead wickets how you have to learn to unsettle the batsmen. Conventional swing is sometimes not enough.
