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The Rediff Cricket Interview / Wasim Akram

'I'm still there; those who accused me are not'

PART I: 'Suddenly, if you have five changes in the cricket board, you can't expect your team to do well'

Where do you see yourself a year from now?

I'll see myself still playing for Pakistan a year from now; that's it. I just want to pay for Pakistan, enjoy my cricket and work hard. While I was captaining I didn't give time to my fitness or to my family, but now I can do both.

Is the health factor also the reason why you wanted to step down?

No. I just wanted to work hard; at my age I need to work harder than normal. Because I am 33 now. If I want to play for another 2-3 years I really have to work hard, do extra work, weight training. On top of that, my family is very important to me right now. I missed my son a lot. So I want to spend as much time as I can with him.

Are you planning on making him a cricketer also?

I hope not, but it all depends on what he wants to be. As a father, I don't want him to be under my shadow all his life. I want him to have his own identity, his own name, his own profession, or whatever he wants to choose.

Some time ago Waqar Younis lashed out at you in public. He went to the media and said some things. How difficult is it for you to then get back together as a team, or stuff like that?

Every individual has a different mind. As far as myself is concerned I forgive people. In our religion you say if you forgive people everything will be okay, and that's what I believe in. I don't fight with them. Somebody is against me, he thinks I have done something wrong. He went to the papers; I didn't bother at all. He worked hard on his bowling instead of criticizing somebody else, he is bowling well now. He is bowling well, he came back well. That's where he should have concentrated on before.

Is your conscience clear about the fact that he said you didn't give him enough bowling back in Australia?

My conscience is clear. I thought Mohd. Akram, who played instead of him in the first Test, got five wickets. This is the captain's instinct you have, and my instinct was Akram was a better bowler than Waqar then. And now Waqar has showed that he is still the world's best bowler. I have to admit that.

Hypothetically thinking, if you were to make one change in world cricket right now, what would it be?

Just to finish bouncers in Test cricket; that is normal Test cricket we used to have before. That there are no restrictions on bouncers.

Yes, the beauty about Test cricket is just to play Test cricket. I mean to bowl as many bouncers you want at the batsman. That's how you can judge a batsman from Test cricket and one-day cricket.

Ijaz Ahmed, the guy had a 100 back in Australia, what exactly went on after that? Do you think he deserved to be in the side?

I think he deserved to be in the side, but I don't know what differences he has with the present board. I have no idea because I am not getting involved with anything at the moment. But I think that guy has still got a good couple of years left in him. But if board thinks he is finished, then I can't say anything about it.

Do you have a say now in the team selection or anything?

Captain Moin asks me, but, more or less, I know what team they are going to play, so I am not bothered.

How does it feel sometimes when you are on the field and you probably feel that this field could have been set like this? What do you do in that case? You just keep shut or ... While Moin is captain, I just tell him what to do and he listens. Otherwise, I would just be quietly there at third man and try to tell the captain whoever it is. But Moin listens to me, so that's very good.

How was it when Saeed Anwar was the captain for the Sri Lankan tour?

Saeed Anwar, I believe, is not... I mean the poor guy did not do that well as a captain. But he was given a hard task. He shouldn't have accepted that. Five changes and telling him to win against Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka is a very good side. So I mean it is not his fault either. Then his batting suffered and his captaincy suffered, so he shouldn't have accepted the job first of all.

Do you think he makes a good leader?

In my view it is just getting used to the stuff. In cricket terms, I believe you have to show natural instincts to make decisions, but eventually after a year or two you will get used to the captaincy changes, what ever changes you want, everything, whatever changes you want. It is just a learning process. You can't just pick a guy and say he will be captain. You can't do that. You have to have a captain for at least a year or two; he'll get used to it, then he will improve. Ask Hansie Cronje to captain India or Pakistan. I'll tell him he will get dropped the next match if he doesn't perform. I'll see how he performs as a captain or as a player.

Does that happen in Pakistan?

It happens back in Pakistan, India, everywhere. I mean Hansie Cronje is captain for the last six years. I mean losing or winning, he is there.

What according to you is the essence of captaincy?

To be positive. If you want to play Test cricket, win a toss, get 300-plus, try to get them out. Just be positive all around; the body language should be positive.

What exactly do you mean by your body language should be positive?

On the field, if you are not doing well, you should be high up. Your head should be high and just be normal all the time; don't be down and out with the game.

You have played with so many captains Javed, Imran, Malik and so on. Did you learn anything from them and include in your captaincy?

I have learnt from everyone. I have learnt from Imran, from Miandad, Malik. They were all good and positive captains. Malik was quite shrewd; Imran was very positive. And I have learnt the positive things from everyone.

If you were to say one aspect that you have learnt from each one, what would it be? From, say Imran.. what was the main thing that you learnt from him?

From Imran, I learnt never to lose hope; it doesn't matter what state we are in the game. From Miandad, I learnt how to use mental skills, and from Malik, I learnt how to change bowlers and how to be a mean cricketer. Mean cricketer in a way means he knew what was happening around.

How would you assess yourself as a captain?

I can't assess myself. There are people who can asses me.

How difficult was man management for you, with stars in the team and hassled egos? It is not a captain's job. It is the management's job. We have have a strong management. I'd just be looking after the team on the field. Off the field it should be the management and coach's job. I didn't have a strong management at times, but times when I had strong management I did well. Now we have strong management.

What went wrong in the World Cup? Tell me one thing that went wrong in the World Cup?

Nothing, I think it just was one of those bad days we had. We worked hard. To tell you one thing, now there won't be more disappointed Pakistanis than the Pakistan team itself. A young side qualified for the final, but didn't put up even a fight. So we were as down as anybody else. We worked so hard, they just played better cricket than us. Took quick wickets, the boys got frozen and suddenly were out for 132.

After being one of the best left arm bowlers of all-time does it hurt you that your career has been tainted with these match-fixing allegations and ball tampering? How does it feel after giving so much to the game?

I mean I am not bothered because I haven't done anything wrong. I have been through a lot but that's over now. People have accused me without anything. They have accused me because of the jealousy factor and I think God, I think Allah unsey poochey ga, mera kuch taalluq hi nahin hai unsey (Allah will ask them, I don't have any concern with it). I am still there, they are not there; the people who accused me are not there.

Are you doing something about it? The Qayyum Commission report, which came out later, had the agreement that Wasim would step down from the captaincy?

Pakistan mey jahan main nahin perform karunga na wahan Qayyum ki report mey mera naam hoga; who report dey hi dein jo marzi kareyn, Qayyum ki report main kuch nahin hai, mainey kuch kiya hi nahin to uski report mein kya ho sakta hai. (Where I don't perform my name will be figure in the Qayyum report. Let them give the report and do whatever they feel like. There is nothing in the Qayyum report. I haven't done anything so why will my name be there.)

But the reports were leaked out that there were names of Pakistani cricketers. Did it affect the team moral?

No, the team is used to it now. If it doesn't happen they get shocked.

Part I

Interviews