Monday, April 09, 2007

Wasim Akram

Well, the other day, I was thinking, and I decided that I havent seen any bowler of the calliber of Wasim Akram. Others came with a bang, Waqar Younis for instance, but gradually reduced in effectiveness. This guy, Wasim Akram, on the other hand, matured and matured and never stopped improving. He would run five steps and still bowl as fast as he wanted to, and the bowl would whizzzz past a dazzled Sachin Tendulkar's nose on a day when Sachin would be in prime form. Truly a great bowler.
I've seen captains, but I havent seen better than Imran Khan. He was a true leader, a firm believer. The team that he led to a world cup victory was probably the worst team Pakistan ever took to any world cup tournaments. I mean, look at it, Ramiz Raja in his last few days not batting too well at all, Javed Miandad not what he once was (though still was pretty effective and key), Wasim Akram, the top bowler in really poor form, Inzamam failing every time, and he still led them to beat Australia in Australia and win the cup. When I look at the match reports now, I say to myself, there's no way this team could make it to the semi finals even, and it had actually won. A guy who walks into the dressing room to a gloomy team and tells them that he's not telling them that they'd win the league match on that day, but that they'll win the world cup, which they eventually did.

2 comments:

M Shoaib Sheikh said...

I wish Imran come to rescue Pakistani nation as well.I think he should be given chance as well.

Anonymous said...

Akram was no doubt a class act. Brian Lara's tribute to this all-time great cricketer is a testimony to his genius. Brian is quoted as saying, "over my 15 or 16 years of playing international cricket in Tests and one-day internationals, Wasim Akram is definitely the most outstanding bowler I've ever faced."
No wonder he's known as the "Sultan of Swing" and "The King of Lancashire", the English county where he played much of his county cricket.