Wasim Akram’s last Test for Pakistan was in January 2002 against Bangladesh. His last ODI was against Zimbabwe in March 2003.
At a time when players post retirement have been quick to release autobiographies about their playing career and life in general, for Akram to release ‘Sultan- A Memoir’, written with the help of the outstanding Australian cricket writer Gideon Haigh nearly two decades after playing his last game, is then intriguing.
The USP of this 320-page memoir lies in its detailing. It is evident that Akram wants to open up about incidents his peers might fear would reveal their secrets to the outside world. From groupism within the dressing room to constant changes in the administration and coaching setup, Akram has left no stone unturned in unraveling the happenings inside Pakistan cricket, during his playing career.
During the course of those revelations emerge features of some key personalities that played a part in his career. One of them was his bowling partner for many a year- Waqar Younis. While Akram has spoken of a professional rivalry with one wanting to outdo the other on the field, the former captain’s revelation that Waqar was part of a group of players that included the likes of Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-Ul-Haq which did not want Akram to play a leading role in the progress of the side, described a bitterness that went beyond taking wickets and winning matches for Pakistan.
Akram reveals about how he watched Waqar bowling in a domestic game on television and immediately asked Imran Khan to take a look at him. Yet, during the time the two played in the same team, the dislike persisted almost right till the end.
As is known to many, Imran’s contribution to Akram’s career was immense. But the former left-arm pacer speaks about how the godfather-like figure continued to assist the southpaw even after retirement, particularly during his first stint as captain where Akram constantly consulted Imran on key decisions, that necessarily did not involve cricketing aspects such as reverse swing.
Reverse swing is spoken in detail in the book, not always the skill aspect but the constant suspicion with which the art was looked at, especially by cricket followers in England. Akram reveals about how almost everyone, barring Geoffrey Boycott, suspected foul play during the team’s tour of England in 1992 and also speaks about of an incident in county cricket that particularly infuriated him.
In addition to reverse swing, the other feature that remains a constant especially in the second half of the book is match fixing. It is here that Akram’s revelations provide a deep insight into the personalities of two teammates- Aamir Sohail and Rashid Latif. As the pages pass by, Sohail’s name gets mentioned more for his involvement in match fixing and the allegations surrounding them starting with the defeat to India in the 1996 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangalore, than his batting performances on the field.
Latif, who was always competing for a wicket-keeping spot with Moin Khan during the course of Akram’s career, is revealed as the player who with Sohail kept floating the talks of games being fixed and the shadiness of both characters and match fixing itself, forms a large chunk of the second half of the book.
Two other seniors are also thrown light at in this book- Javed Miandad and Saleem Malik. The former, who handed Akram his Test debut at Auckland in January 1985, goes from being a mentor to Akram to becoming a coach who almost could not get over the fact that his playing career was over and indirectly, wished to enjoy the monetary pleasures that came with playing for Pakistan.
Akram describes the latter’s presence in the dressing room as ‘inscrutable’ and right from the first mention to the last, Malik is seen as a personality whose presence affected the team significantly. Another key part of the memoir is also the Justice Qayyum report, which as Akram reveals was contradictory and did not always make sense.
Not everything in the memoir, though, reveals the dark side of his playing career. There are some fun nuggets such as the bat that Miandad used to smash Chetan Sharma for six in the 1986 AustralAsia Cup final was in fact, Akram’s.
His life as a overseas professional at Lancashire, which lasted a decade forms some of the happy portions of the memoir and life at Old Trafford offered Akram with much-needed relief from the shenanigans of Pakistan cricket.
Another key member of his life that Akram offers deep insight into is the presence and influence of his first wife, Huma. Akram first met Huma in his early twenties, married her in his mid to-late twenties and it is evident from Akram’s book that it was her presence which offered perspective to his life and her being by his side, especially ahead of a key game at the 1992 World Cup, helped bring the best out of him.
Akram’s memoir is different to the one written by his contemporary- Sachin Tendulkar- in that the former has opted to go beneath the surface and speak of issues affecting him and Pakistan cricket without thinking about how they would affect his relations with those mentioned, after the book is released. As a result, the memoir turns into a compelling read, which keeps you engaged almost right till the end.
