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| wasim akram |
Five years since he quit the game, Wasim Akram is as sharp with a provocative opinion as his bowling used to be in his heyday. Wasim Akram has a presence, and you react when you first see him. Bright-coloured shirts, designer glasses, the dense long hair – he retains every bit of flair that went with being perhaps the greatest left-arm fast bowler of them all. Not many former players manage to keep the charm they had as players: Viv Richards, for instance, has, and so has Akram. When he was playing, it didn’t matter how many wickets he had taken: every new wicket brought him a child-like joy. Talk to him about how he would adjust in today’s batsman-dominated cricket and the eyes light up. He has learned how to bowl slow bouncers, no matter that he doesn’t need to bowl them; he gets excited when he sees a young talent; and he is still a funny young man, as this conversation – where he ranges from the art of reverse swing to captaincy to politics in the Pakistan cricket – shows.
Everybody wants to know how Wasim would have adjusted to Twenty20?
I would have enjoyed Twenty20. A couple of things: it would have suited my batting style, and of course, it would have suited my bowling too. Because you need a lot of varieties in Twenty20. Only yorkers and slower balls won’t do. Nowadays you can bowl the slower bouncer…
How difficult is it to bowl the slower bouncer?
It is quite difficult. You have to be very confident of yourself. You have to be accurate, otherwise you will probably get hit for six. You have to be brave.
These pitches [Asia Cup] are not helping bowlers. How would you deal with them?
We played on these pitches every time we played one-day cricket in Pakistan; I don’t want to blame the wickets. We all played on these tracks only, and we managed.
Considering the way the game is heavily loaded against the bowlers. Don’t you think there should be some rule changes to make it more even?
For 50-over cricket, the ICC has to sit down, the cricketing brains have to sit down, and do something about the over numbers 20 to 40 – find out what they can do for the bowlers.
Any ideas you have in mind? For instance, should ball-tampering be made legal?
I haven’t sat down. I am not playing, so I am hardly bothered. Had I been playing I would have come up with some solution, I suppose, eventually.
Why haven’t you got into coaching, shared your knowledge?
Coaching is a very different skill. You need patience, you need a lot of organisation. I don’t have any. I can make a good consultant, I can fine-tune bowlers, give them mental toughness, talk about how to bowl under pressure, how to bowl with the old ball. But I can’t make a good full-time coach.
Who are the bowlers going around that excite you?
Brett Lee, of course. He is the best bowler in the world right now. Ishant Sharma – but he has to learn quickly. He has been very average in the Asia Cup. His length has to change in one-day cricket. He is a wicket-taking bowler, he has to get the new ball. You can’t have your third seamer bowling with the new ball.
Indian bowlers bowl well in helpful conditions in England, Australia and South Africa, but they struggle in the subcontinent. Unlike Waqar Younis and You, who were actually better in the subcontinent than outside. What are they missing?
The simple answer is: reverse swing. Either they don’t practise with the old ball or they don’t have confidence in it.
It’s not rocket science. You take a ball, rough it up on one side on concrete, put it in your bag, and practise with it every day. It has got nothing to do with your wrist or your action. The ball will go with the shine. Simple as that, but you have to master it. It’s things that you find difficult as a bowler in matches that you have to practise more. Some people don’t, they just think line and length and forget about other things. I think that is where they are lacking.
You have said earlier that the most important thing about reverse swing is how you look after the ball. What are the secrets of looking after the ball?
I am not giving that away so easily. Not in a freebie interview!
Everyone in our team knew what we had to do. And we even had to change Saqlain Mushtaq’s action. He used to rub the ball in a manner that used to soften the rough side. As a captain, I had to tell him, “Saqlain don’t do that.” In team meetings we used to go after him.
When the coaches come to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, they have meetings for two hours. They should know that the attention span in our part of the world is 14 minutes. If you get into the 15th minute, they will forget what you told them in the first 14
That much detail?
That much detail. Even if while throwing the ball from the outfield, if the rough side comes in touch with the grass, it will become soft. Sometimes bowlers used to stop the ball played back at them with their foot. If the boot spikes hit the rough side, it was Christmas. If it didn’t, you shone the ball and moved on.
We just took our time. It all depended on the wicket, the weather, the dryness of the outfield. If the wicket is dead and the square grassy, it’s not going to happen. If one drop of sweat falls on it, the reverse swing won’t happen.
And now with this rule to change the ball after 34 overs, you have taken reverse swing out of the one-day equation.
Once you have seen talent in a young fast bowler, how do you go about nurturing it?
If I see an exceptionally good fast bowler, I would pick him right away. Batsmen probably need more time and experience to mature, but if bowlers have pace, swing, and they are physically and mentally strong, just back them and play them. I picked Aamer Nazir, Saqlain Mushtaq, I picked Shoaib Malik out of the blue in Sharjah 1997. I saw him play one game for PIA and I fought for him and he was on the touring team.
Mohammad Aamer is being rated highly by experts in Pakistan. He is only 16: would you pick him pick right away?
I would.
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| wasim akram |
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| wasim akram |
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| wasim akram |
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| wasim akram |
