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Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram opened up about his retirement story and recalled an anecdote about his decision to retire from international cricket. Akram, who has been known for his exceptional bowling skills and announced his international retirement in May 2003, recently revealed that he took the call after being influenced by a series of events while he was associated with Hampshire in county cricket.
Akram said that he was disappointed after being dropped from the Pakistan team several times and went on to join Hampshire to prove his worth but soon realised that his body couldn’t take the demands of rigorous four-day matches. He humorously said that he couldn’t walk after bowling for 28 overs in a single day, which made him question his choice.
In an interaction with Sportskeeda, the 57-year-old opened up about his retirement and said, "I retired (from international cricket) because I was fed up at being dropped from the team. The chairman at that time did not like me."
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Akram added, "Two years before my international retirement, I was asked to hang up my boots from Test cricket. I played ODIs for two years. Then, we came back from the 2003 World Cup. I was 37 and was bowling okay. I could have played on for another year, but I am glad I left."
Watch the video here:
Regarding his decision of hanging his gloves and reaching the decision of calling it quits, he said, "Every morning, while brushing, I used to look at the mirror and asked myself, ‘kya kar raha hain is umar mein?’ (What are you doing at this age?) Why are you playing first-class matches? The passion was gone, and I was finding it difficult to go to the ground. I called up my wife and my kids from the same room and told them, 'Look, I am retiring'."
Hailed as one of the best bowlers in the history of cricket, Akram played 104 Tests, and 356 ODIs. The 'Sultan of Swing' claimed 414 wickets in the longest format of cricket where as picked 502 wickets in the ODI. Not only this, but he also has a record of scoring three Test tons.
