Why Wasim so keen to tour England?
Champion all-rounder, Wasim Akram, has managed to make it into the 20- man provisional list for next month's tour to England using all his contacts
25-Apr-2001
Champion all-rounder, Wasim Akram, has managed to make it into the 20-
man provisional list for next month's tour to England using all his
contacts. But the question is why Wasim is so keen to tour England?
Wasim has made four successful tours to England twice as captain. In
1987, he was a member of Imran Khan's tigers who won 1-0 in a five-
Test series. He was the leading wicket-taker for Javed Miandad's party
in 1992.
In 1996, Wasim captained Pakistan to 2-0 victory over England then
inspired his team to reach the final of the 1999 World Cup where his
team lost a lopsided final to Australia by eight wickets.
In England, he has taken 53 wickets for Pakistan at 26.58, an
impressive performance by all means.
If there was anything left, Wasim achieved that with distinction with
his more than a decade-old association with Lancashire.
Overall, Wasim has captured 409 Test and 440 one-day wickets besides
leading Pakistan in 25 Tests while winning 12 and losing eight. He has
also been a member of the 1992 World Cup winning party.
There is nothing left for the demon pace bowler to achieve. But he is
still keen to tour England without realizing that he is not welcome in
the team dressing room presently being captained by his once great
friend who later turned foe Waqar Younis. And it is certainly not
because of his all round and match-winning abilities that his
inclusion is being resisted but because he was not sincere to his
colleagues during his reign as captain.
It was his attitude which forced Waqar to led a successful nine
players rebellion against him in 1994. Not only Waqar, but other
senior players had problems with Wasim and that's precisely why they
joined the revolt.
When Wasim took over the charge again in 1998, intentionally or
unintentionally under bowled the great pace bowler. In the second Test
at Hobart against Australia, Wasim tried every bowler except Waqar as
Australia achieved more than 350 in the fourth innings to win the Test
by four wickets.
Then in the 1999 World Cup, Waqar was played in just one match which
forced the paceman to accuse Wasim of deliberately destroying his
career.
Although the prospects of Wasim making the team look bleak, he will
certainly face isolation and probably humiliation if Waqar surrenders
before the `strong recommendations' and agrees to take him to England.
Wasim has learnt all the tricks in the trade from his maestro Imran
Khan. But what he has forgotten is that Imran was wise enough to call
it a day after the World Cup when he realized the harsh reality that
he was not wanted for the 1992 tour to England.
If Wasim is intelligent, he should follow in the footsteps of Imran
and quit with honour, grace and dignity.