|
 This
is one of the most candid interviews you'll read anywhere and Mohammad Akram
really deserves a lot of credit for speaking his mind about his career and
experiences with international cricket. It reads less like an interview and more
like a discussion because Mohammad brought up a lot of interesting points and
wasn't afraid to expand on them.
He comes across as a very relaxed and laidback person who is at peace with his
past and looking to the future. I hope you all enjoy reading the interview as
much as I enjoyed conducting it.
What first got you into cricket?
I never set out to become a cricketer, as a young kid I was very laidback and
just enjoyed playing street cricket with all the other kids. After a few years
of tape ball cricket my friends would tell me that I should go into cricket
professionally and that I could make a career out of it but I wasn't interested.
At that time I already had a goal, I was going to college to get my law degree
and cricket was just a past time.
What changed your mind?
I was trying to get admission into Gordon College in RawalPindi but I fell short
of the minimum requirements. In those days colleges would give you a place if
you were good at a sport and so I used my cricket to get admission at the
college. It was only after playing for the college team that I began to think
that maybe I really could make it as a cricketer and that it was time to start
taking cricket more seriously.
One of the questions Im supposed to ask you is about your English which is very
good but I guess you've answered that in the bit about getting your law degree.
Well unfortunately I didnt finish it...
because you went into cricket?
Yeah.
Who discovered you and gave you your chance to play for Pakistan?
I was playing for RawalPindi in a game against a very strong Allied Bank team,
they had International players like Rameez Raja, Aamir Sohail, Aaqib Javed and
Rashif Latif in their side. I bowled very well that day and after the game
Rameez spoke to me in private. He told me that he was really impressed with my
bowling and that he wanted me to join the Allied bank team...
was he the captain of Allied bank?
Yes, at the time he was both the Captain and the Vice president of the Allied
bank team. I politely refused his offer because I was quite happy with what I
was already doing and wanted to complete my studies. About 4 or 5 months after
that, in 1995, a Pakistan team camp was held in Karachi and 100 players were
called up to attend. I learnt that my name was amongst those 100 players but I
didn't want to go. I was in England when my name was announced for the camp and
I didnt feel it would be worth it for me to travel to Karachi. I'd only played
10 or 12 first class games at that stage and what chance did I have to be
selected from out of 100 of the best players from Pakistan? But a couple of
friends convinced me that I should go and enjoy myself, so I went along. After
about half an hour bowling in the nests at the camp I knew I was going to play
for Pakistan...
what happened in that half hour to change your mind?
I was bowling away in the nets when I suddenly noticed that all the top players
had stopped what they were doing and had come over to stand around my nets to
watch me bowl. Wasim, Waqar and Rameez were there too so I thought there must be
something about my bowling for it to catch their attention. You asked how I got
picked for Pakistan well it happened right there and Rameez played a huge part
in it. In fact I was picked in the final 14 for the very next test series and
although I sat out the first game. In the second game they dropped Waqar and
played me, I couldnt believe it!
What did it feel like debuting for Pakistan? Especially since Waqar was
dropped (not injured) to make way for you?
A few months before my debut I couldn't even imagine bowling alongside Waqar and
Wasim yet there I was on my debut actually replacing 'the Waqar Younis' in the
Pakistan lineup, playing for Pakistan was a dream come true. I was with the team
for 7 years bowling alongside Wasim and waqar and even opening the bowling.
Waqar and Wasim were legends in every sense of the word, despite all their
success they were still keen and hungry to play more cricket. During their
playing days they both bowled non-stop either for Pakistan, for their counties
or in domestic cricket yet they were very rarely injured. Contrast that with how
frequently our bowlers are getting injured these days and that's despite the
fact that Pakistan arent playing much cricket anymore. Bowlers like them come
along once in a lifetime.
Do u consider yourself unlucky to have debuted in an era where Pakistani fast
bowling was so strong?
It's funny you should ask that because it's the second time I've been asked that
question today. Earlier on I was sitting in the Lashings XI dressing room with
legends like Greenridge, Kallicharan and others. They told me that I should've
played over 100 test matches and they too wanted to know why I didnt play more
international cricket. I told them that I spent 7 years sitting on the bench
watching others playing, those 7 years took me away from cricket because whilst
I was sitting on the bench I couldn't regularly play any competitive matches.
Wasim and Waqar were always fit plus we had two great spinners in Mushy and Saqi
and so opportunities in the first team were very limited. I felt my game needed
developing and that I needed to bowl regularly at a competitive level. So in
2001, for various reasons, I decided it was time for me to enjoy my cricket. I
signed up for a county and left to play in England. In conclusion yes i do feel
sometimes that I came onto the scene in what was toughest period for Pakistani
pacers to get selected due to the abundance of talent we had at that time.
I believe that if you were an emerging player today then you would go straight
into the playing XI.
I don't have any regrets, that train departed a long time ago
and it's no use dwelling on what could've been. I feel proud and privileged to
have played for Pakistan during an era where these guys you see in the team
today wouldn't even be allowed to bowl to us in the nets. In those days the
minimum criteria for getting into the Pakistan team as a fast bowler was the
ability to regularly bowl at 88 or 90 mph. These days if you can hit 80mph
you're in the side.
Wasim or Waqar, who was better?
It's a very difficult question and I don't think I can pick one of them. Wasim
was purely gifted, he was an amazing cricketer and was born to bowl. Waqar was
very hard working and both of them were up for any challenge. They were always
keen to play, always hungry for wickets and an amazing duo. I should know
because I sat on the bench and witnessed about 500 wickets between them.
So which one of them was more helpful to you?
Neither of them, they didnt do anything for youngsters. It was part of their
policy to not let youngsters in.
But what about Razzaq and Akhtar, didn't they make them?
No they didn't, Razzaq and Akhtar were very talented young cricketers. No-one
could've stopped them, you just can't stop talent like that.
This isn't the first time I've heard this, about Wasim and Waqar blocking the
progress of youngsters...
(interrupts) ...no I wouldn't call it blocking, they didn't block anyone. It was
more a case of the fact that they didn't like to see anyone coming near them or
reaching them. That was part of the reason they didnt like Shoaib, they were
well against him.
What's your opinion on Shoaib? Is he as arrogant and aggressive as we are led
to believe?
If you know Shoaib then he's a lovely chap to be around, you'll really enjoy his
company and you'll certainly never be bored (laughs). However if you dont know
him then it's a different story, he's that sort of character. To understand
Shoaib you have to get to know him, once you get to know him, you can understand
where he's coming from and what he's talking about. When it come to Shoaib as a
cricketer, I always think 'what a waste'
I agree he's really wasted his talent. He's a fast bowler stuck in a
bodybuilders body.
(laughs) He should be a wrestler.
(laughs) So what went wrong with him?
He wasn't handled correctly, the treatment he's receiving now is like closing
the stable door after the horse has bolted. What good does it do to ban him for
a year when at best he'll only last for another year anyway, maybe not even
that. It's worthless to ban him now, they should've done this to him when he was
a lot younger, that was when they should have taken harsh action and imposed
long bans on him. It's no good doing it now after investing so much time in him.
The selectors and the PCB had no idea what to do with him and that's because
most of these officials get their jobs through political assignments with the
backing of some prime minister or some general. These political appointees come
into the fray with little or no knowledge of Pakistani cricket or how to improve
it. They end up hiring lots of advisors and with each change of personnel in the
PCB the mission and direction of Pakistan cricket changes to something entirely
different from the previous regime. The poor players are left stuck in the
middle not knowing which way to turn or who to trust. The same thing happened to
Shoaib. When he needed strict discipline and tough love he was allowed to do as
he pleased and now when he needs to be handled with the velvet glove he's
getting the iron fist.
How should he have been handled?
We used to play together for Rawalpindi and there were never any problems with
him because we never gave him that much importance. The PCB should've been tough
with him from the outset and dropped him early on in his career. If he was
hungry to play cricket then he would've sorted himself out and come back fitter,
stronger and more disciplined.
I agree. The PCB have given him an inflated sense of his own self-worth, much in
the same way they did with Razzaq whom they never dropped even when he wasn't
performing and when they finally dropped him he thought it an injustice.
The problem with Pakistani cricket is that players are kept
in the national team for all the wrong reasons. For example, if I'm the captain
of Pakistan and I know that I can rely on Razzaq to support me then I will keep
him in the team regardless of his performance. Too many players end up playing
far too many games because they are 'yes men' whom the captain can rely on. This
has been happening in Pakistani cricket for a very long time, players are kept
around based on their loyalty to the captain and not on their performances or
ability.
When Rameez Raja approached you, after the 2003 World Cup, to come and play
for Pakistan you declined his offer, what was the reason behind that decision?
The reason was a very simple one. I spent 7 years touring with the Pakistan team
at a time when the average wage for an ODI game was 7,000 rupees and the average
wage for a test match was 15,000 rupees (which works out to 3,000 rupees per
day). Imagine working for less than £30 a day and not only trying to survive on
that wage but also trying to maintain the image and the lifestyle expected of an
International cricketer too! Even if you forget about the financial aspect,
there is no job security when playing for Pakistan. In those days we didnt even
have central contracts and so if I didnt make the squad then I didn't get any
wages. When Rameez approached me I asked him to give me a proper run in the
team, I asked him to either guarantee me two years with the team or to promise
me 10 test matches as a first choice bowler. I said that if I didn't perform
well then I'd step down myself but I told him that I wasn't prepared to be
called up for 1 test match and then dropped if I didnt perform. All I wanted was
a proper run in the first team which I've never got despite touring with the
squad for 7 years! In those 7 years I only played 9 test matches and 23 ODIs
most of which were played 5 or 6 months apart. Every time I was picked in the
team it felt like I was making my debut and I often knew that I wouldn't be
playing the next game no matter how well I bowled. I was under constant pressure
throughout those 7 years, I was expected to just walk into an international game
with no match practise and to take tons of wickets just to hold onto my spot in
the squad. As a cricketer you perform differently when you know that you'll be
playing regularly, in that situation you know you can be more attacking, you can
experiment more and you can go for wickets too. That's why I chose to stay with
Surrey and continue to enjoy my cricket, another factor was that although Surrey
would have understood I didn't want to break my commitment to them. The decision
was entirely mine and not anybody else's.
What attributes do you think make a good fast bowler?
Well first of all you need the talent to be there, if that's not there then it's
no use going forward. After that you need to be hard working because fast
bowling is probably the most difficult discipline in the world of cricket. You
need to look after your body, have the ability to learn quickly and you need to
be very strong mentally to cope with the occasions where you will be smashed all
over the park. You will need a lot of mental strength to be able to come back
and still take wickets.
Your bowling action is very similar to Michael Holding, did you try to copy
him when growing up or did it come about naturally.
Well a bit of both really. I've always admired Holding and Walsh, I really
enjoyed watching them bowl. I did try to copy Holding's action but it's very
difficult to fill those boots. I've had lots of analysis done on my action and
I've been told that my action is the most relaxed action of any fast bowler,
I've been told its even more relaxed than Holding. In fact Sussex County have
asked me if they can use my action as a model action with which to coach their
youngsters.
You've just mentioned Holding and Walsh but what other cricketers did you
admire when growing up?
I always liked watching Wasim and Imran but there was a special quality about
Wasim's bowling that stood out for me. Growing up I was a huge fan of Wasim
Akram and his bowling style, he really was something else.
Describe your 5 wicket haul in a test match against Australia, in the same game
Wasim only took 1 wicket.
 Waqar
was dropped for that game and I came in to play in his place, I took 5 wickets
and and my first 3 wickets were taken within 4 overs of each other. After my
performance that day I was told that I was going to get a long run in the test
team, they told me that I'd finally made it. However when we got back to
Pakistan there was a change in government and Saeed Anwar became the new captain
of Pakistan, Saeed was a very close friend of Waqar and I was told that since
Waqar was the more senior player he would be playing and not me. That was the
point at which I decided that enough was enough and that I had to find a way out
of this groundhog day.
When did that happen?
That was in 1999, I did play two more test matches after that but despite my
optimism nothing had changed. The final straw was in 2001 when Aaqib Javed (who
was then a selector) came into my hotel room to tell me that with both Wasim and
Waqar being fit I was not needed in the squad for the upcoming Asian Test
Championship. I had a contract with a club here in England and so I took the
next flight out of Pakistan and came to England to play some cricket. Then
suddenly I got a phone call from another selector, Zakir Khan, telling me that
not only was I in the Test match squad but I was also going to be playing in the
final XI vs Bangladesh at Multan. He also stressed that the game was taking
place the day after tomorrow and that I needed to come back, so against my
better judgement I tried to get a flight back to Pakistan. Unfortunately it was
too short notice and I was unable to get back in time, so they banned me for two
years for not turning up to play.
That's ridiculous.
No, that's Pakistan cricket. At the time Pakistan had a team full of captains,
everyone was a superstar and the PCB were trying to find some way to give the
impression that they were a strict board that maintains discipline to a very
high standard. Since they couldnt go after one of their superstars, I became the
sacrificial lamb who was banned for two years. In the end the ban was lifted
within the first year (in about 8 months I think) but by that point I'd decided
that I didn't want to play for them anymore.
I had a question asking why despite you having the height, the pace and the
bounce you averaged 40 in ODIs and 50 in Tests but after talking to you it seems
clear that 9 tests and 23 ODIs in 7 years spent with the team would explain that
quite adequately.
There is that but that's not the only reason. Even if you
only consider the games where I got a chance to bowl then you'll see that in
test matches in more than half the innings, I only bowled a dozen or so overs. A
specialist bowler should be bowling 25+ overs per innings in every game, a test
match isnt an ODI for me to only have been bowling 10 over per innings. Even in
ODIs I only bowled my full quota of overs in less than a quarter of the games in
which I played, does it make sense to play a specialist fast bowler and not have
him complete his quota in over three-quarters of the games that he plays? Us
younger bowlers felt that we only got the chance to bowl when the batsmen were
set and the team was looking for a breakthrough, as soon as the breakthrough was
achieved we were removed from the attack and Wasim or Waqar would come back in
to finish off the job. I don't blame them for it, perhaps it was the best tactic
to get the experienced bowlers back on but it meant that I didn't learn as a
bowler. I wasn't playing any regular competitive cricket and because I was
always touring on the bench I didn't get the chance to hone my skills in first
class cricket either. It was a difficult situation to be in and a fast bowler
can only get better by playing regular competitive cricket.
That's very true. If you look at Akhtar today then he's a far more complete
bowler with better variation and gameplans than he was in his earlier days.
I wouldnt say he's a better bowler now, he was at his peak in
1999 to 2002. After that he's only gone downhill.
I agree with that, what I meant was that mentally he's a far better bowler
nowadays than he was when he was younger. Akhtar knows what he needs to do, he
knows where and how he needs to bowl even if his body is unable to execute the
gameplan his head comes up with.
I understand what you mean now, yes it's very true. As with
everything else, in cricket there is no substitute for experience. I've always
maintained that we shouldn't throw these 20 year old kids into the international
team before they're ready for international cricket. We should make them grind
out a few years in first class cricket so that they can gain the mental strength
that they will need when they face the best in the business on the world stage.
We should also educate them about the world, about what trials and temptations
will come their way when they get so much fame and adulation at such a young
age. We should impress upon them what it means to represent your country and how
your actions as an individual can negatively affect your country's image on the
International scene when you're representing your nation.
That's some really good stuff so far, what else would you do to make
Pakistani cricket more competitive?
Pakistan's problem is that the PCB is mainly staffed with non-cricketers who
know nothing about the game or what's good for the game. Even the chairman is
usually someone who hasn't been involved in cricket in a professional capacity
and who relies on advisors rather than taking the decisions himself. Over the
last decade or so Pakistan cricket seems to have gotten into a rut, there's no
long term gamelan and no joined up thinking. It's all about soundbites and knee
jerk reactions. Cricketers tend to enter their prime in their late 20s, that's
when they've accumulated enough experience and control over their discipline for
them to be able to use their skills more effectively. Look at players like Lee
and Flintoff, they're now much better cricketers than they were when they were
in their early 20s. In fact look at the best team in the world and how they pick
their talent, the Aussies pick battle-hardened warriors who have been ground in
the domestic scene for upto a decade before they get their chance at an
international debut, often when they're close to 30. Those players are mentally
very strong because they've been through many battles and learnt the hard way,
in contrast Pakistani players dont have that mental strength. They panic too
easily and because they're so young they have no experience to fall back on.
It's reached the stage where getting a Pakistan cap is now a common thing and
not something to be coveted. In it's first 45 years as a cricketing nation
Pakistan handed out 132 caps, now compare that to the last 5 years where 80 caps
have been given away! That shows two things. One that the standard for earning a
cap isnt what it was and two that we dont develop our cricketers. We just give
them a cap and then forget about them, we need to start thinking long term.
The first time I personally heard your name (I wasn't a big cricket fan
pre-2003) was when Imran Khan mentioned it during commentary for the 1999 WC,
the pace of Akhtar was being discussed by the other commentators when Imran said
that if you think Akhtar is fast then we have a guy called Mohammad Akram who is
just as fast as him. Did you know about that?
Actually I was playing in England at the time but no I didn't know about that.
However it doesn't surprise me because Imran is the one who insisted I was sent
with the Pakistan squad to Australia after the 1999 WC. I only played one test
match but I picked up 5 wickets, Imran had me specially picked for that tour and
I'm grateful to him for it.
We still see you clocking 90mph in county cricket sometimes...
(interrupts) ...maybe a couple of years ago but not anymore. These days I bowl
around 85mph, I've cut down on my pace to lengthen my career and I'm relying
more on seam and swing than on pace.
How fast would u say u were at your peak? What's the fastest delivery you've
ever had clocked?
I think about 92mph was the fastest delivery I've had clocked but then there
were lots of deliveries which I bowled that were never clocked so I dont know
the answer to that. Besides I don't trust speed guns, they are static cameras
set at the same height for every bowler and I feel they give inaccurate results
but it's too complicated to go into on here.
Who was faster Mohammad Zahid or Shoaib Akhtar?
I feel with his awkward action at that pace, Zahid was a far more dangerous
bowler than Akhtar. It was his action that cut his career short, it wasn't a
normal or relaxed action. Zahid was very fast, if he wasn't faster than Akhtar
then he was at least as fast as Akhtar.
In 1997 Pakistan could have fielded a bowling attack of Waqar, Wasim, Akhtar,
Zahid and yourself. That's three 95mph+ bowlers and two 90mph bowlers, would
that have been the fastest bowling attack in the history of cricket?
Yes you could say that, it would certainly have been the fastest bowling attack
in Pakistan's history. But in 1997 the two W's werent regularly bowling at over
90mph. I think their peaks lasted till about 1995, after that they both slowed
down a lot. Although it is potentially the fastest bowling attack we would never
have played together because Pakistan had two all rounders (Azhar and later
Razzaq) and two great spinners (Mushy and Saqi). Especially Saqlain who at that
stage was such a great match winner that there was no way he could have been
dropped, so I dont think this attack would ever have played together.
What happened in your last test match? Pakistan were bowled out by Martyn,
Tuffey and Franklin for 104 and 118 vs NZ but on the same pitch NZ scored 407
and only lost 4 wickets.
We didn't bowl very well but neither was there anything wrong
with the pitch, Pakistani batsmen need to learn to bat in overseas conditions.
Unlike New Zealand most English pitches these days are very similar to Asian
wickets and because of that many Asian batsmen begin to think they can play
overseas if they score in England but they get exposed in places like New
Zealand and South Africa. It's difficult for any bowler to defend a total like
104 and our bowling was more suited to dry batting pitches where the ball starts
to reverse, these days I've cut down on my speed but in those days we were all
about pace and we'd get carried away on pitches with any assistance, we'd try to
knock off the batsman's head instead of aiming at his stumps!
10 years ago Pakistan were producing 150k pacers like Zahid, Akhtar, Rauf,
Rana, yourself and others without any effort yet these days we struggle to find
someone who can hit 140k. What went wrong?
Every country has a period where they are overflowing with cricketing talent,
that was Pakistan's time and now it's gone. I'm sure these sorts of bowlers are
still out there but the PCB need to get out there and hunt down the talent. They
need to get into villages because boys in the village tend to be much stronger
than their city counterparts. They also need to invest in school cricket and
create a proper scouting system.
Have you seen any promising bowlers in domestic cricket?
At the moment I feel that Yasir Arafat is one bowler which Pakistan are really
wasting, he's mentally very tough and needs to be given a long run in the side.
What about Sohail khan, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Aamer and Anwar
Ali?
Pakistan haven't played a lot of test cricket for a while and that's helped a
lot of these guys establish themselves on the fringes, limited overs cricket is
nothing like test cricket and I'll reserve judgement on them until I see what
they can do in test cricket.
What happened in South Africa when you and Saqlain were mugged? Do you think
it negatively affected your career?
It was a very simple situation which everyone read about in the papers. I was
quite young at the time and these things happen in international cricket. I dont
think that it can affect your whole career.
The match was delayed by 24 hours and the Pakistan team were talking about
going back, was it really that dangerous?
There was nothing dangerous there, we were given full security after that
incident. Actually the whole series was played in a good manner.
When you are commentating your views tend to be quite balanced, will u be
commentating on the Champions Trophy or the home series vs India?
I'd love to commentate if im asked but I think a lot of Pakistani selectors
weren't happy with my last appearance so unless it's TenSports I dont think it's
very likely. If they want me, I'd love to do it.
 Have
you received any offers from the ICL?
Yes I have received a few offers, I even accepted and was given the green light
by the ICL organisers but my very dear friends in the ICL didn't want me there
and I was unable to go. Apparently I'm too upfront if you can believe that
(laughs)
(laughs) What do you plan to do once you retire from cricket? Coaching,
umpiring or commentating?
Not coaching, I dont think its my type of job. I'd like to look into
commentating in some capacity. |
