Wasim Akram is a far bigger cricketer than me : Waqar Younis

[Umair Malik]

Waqar Younis speaking to Wasim Akram on The Sportsman:

"I am from an agricultural background, my parents are from a village. I was interested in many sports like badminton, table tennis etc early on but when I started with cricket, I left other sports."

"I didn't look to someone when I started playing cricket. Some of the local coaches were impressed by me and told me to leave my right-arm leg-spin and bowl fast."

"I was told at 8 in the evening that I was playing for an U19 team in Sahiwal since one of the fast bowlers was injured. It was a three day game and I had to go somehow. I took my bag without telling anyone at home. I didn't have money to buy a ticket for the bus so I took a risk and climbed on the top of the bus after it started moving. It was very cold. I somehow got through the two hour journey and passed the night at the bus-stop. When I reached for the match, I was dropped."

"There is no shortcut. Everything has to be done through hard work."

"Later I was playing FC cricket so Imran Khan saw me playing in the Wills Cup vs an Indian side. I was very young at the time. That game went well for me as Imran bhai and Wasim bhai saw me. It was a turning point - if they didn't see me I might have gone back to FC cricket for a couple of years."

"It was in 1991 that I took around 100 wickets in English county cricket."

"It was difficult before my first Test match. Playing with huge names and playing against India, I felt a lot of pressure. The first thing Imran Khan told me was that you gotta bowl fast. Forget swing etc."

"I got injured at the wrong time before the 92 World Cup, but no regrets. I'm happy that you guys went on to win the World Cup."

"The rivalry between us was such that both of us wanted to take wickets of the opposition batsmen."

"In a short time after I joined the team, we became good friends."

"We never fought on the field. We had arguments. It was natural since we spent so much time together touring but we didn't have any problem on the field."

"I had started playing for U19 and it was just two years before I played for Pakistan that I lost the pinky finger (left hand). We used to swim in a stream and would jump from a platform. I was climbing up but I was wet so I slipped and lost control of my grip on the grill so my finger got stuck in it and it just came right off due to my weight."

"Saeed Anwar was very mischievious. We once woke up early in the morning so he heard a slight sound outside the room. Inzi and Mushtaq were returning from their friends at 3 or 4 in the morning. Their visas were supposed to be sorted in the later in the morning for England. So Saeed let them rest for a bit and then called them up, pretending to be from the Embassy, saying that he needs the forms etc. right now! So Inzi and Mushtaq got up, tired, and kept walking around the lobby waiting for the guy but no one came."

"I didn't get the new ball usually so I had to bowl with the old ball thus I had to learn reverse swing and yorkers."

"I think Wasim Akram was smarter than me as a bowler. He had a different angle as a left-armer and was economical. I used to try and get everyone out on every ball so my economy was bad and I would sometimes get hit a lot."

"I got captaincy only towards the end of my career for a couple of years. I really enjoyed it. Wasim Akram is a far bigger cricketer than me and I always respected him."

"During my captaincy, I was once choosing a ball before the match from the umpires' briefcase. So I chose one that I liked and asked Saeed Anwar to check it, he said he thought it was a bit large. So I took it back, put it in the briefcase and pretended to rummage around and then gave him the same ball. He was impressed with it this time."

"My name is Waqar so when you go overseas they can't pronounce it. So they used to call me something like Raka. And then Wasim heard it and started calling me that!"

"I used to play cricket in Burewala and Chishty Mujahid picked it up, added Express to it and the name Burewala Express became popular."

"Reverse swing has become less popular since bowlers aren't that pacy nowadays - you need to bowl over 145 kph to become effective with reverse swing."

"The most difficult batsman to bowl to was Brian Lara." (Wasim Akram also said Lara)

"We try to be professional in our commentary but obviously when Pakistan is doing well, I will sound more enthusiastic but less so when the team is losing."

"The most memorable spell for me was in Durban when South Africa needed 50 to win with 9 wickets in hand in an ODI. We won and I took 5 wickets."

"We were playing in Brisbane and Australia had made more than 500 runs so Shane Warne came out to bat. Mushtaq Ahmed was bowling so he got hit for 3 sixes. We were good friends so he turned around to me at mid-off. I turned away from him. He got hit again for a four so he turned around and this time I started teasing him with a song. He started abusing me."

"When I was coming in to bowl the hat-trick ball against NZ, I was confident about getting it if I bowled within the wickets. Their tail was terrible and I was sure I would get it."

"I don't want to remember the Bangalore game in 96. I bowled well for 8 overs, had around 2-26. I was under the impression that I would get him out now, again and again, but I went for more than 60 eventually. We started off well in the chase and needed 4 an over after a great start but the pressure got to us."