File photo of Wasim Akram© Twitter
One of the finest pace bowlers in the history of cricket, Wasim Akram is a name that needs no introduction in the cricketing spectrum. The former Pakistan speedster enjoys a great fan following all across the world. But, if there’s one country where Akram is loved the most after Pakistan, it would arguably be India. It was this love for the cricketer that saw his late wife receive urgent medical treatment in 2009, and Akram couldn’t me more thankful to the Indian people.
In a chat with Sportstar, Akram revealed a chilling tale from 2009 when his flight had to land in Chennai but the cricketer and his wife didn’t have visas for the country.
Akram revealed how his wife was unconscious when the flight landed, and the medical team there took her to a hospital despite them not having valid visas.
“I was flying to Singapore with my late wife and there was a stop in Chennai for refueling. When he landed, she was unconscious, I was crying and people recognized me at the airport. We didn’t have an Indian visa. We both had Pakistani passports. The people at the Chennai airport, the security forces, and the customs and immigration officials told me not to worry about the visa and take my wife to the hospital while they sort the visa out. That is something I will never forget, as a cricketer and as a human being,” he revealed.
Akram also recalled some fond memories from the 1999 Chennai Test.
“The Chennai Test is very special to me… It was very hot and the pitch was bare, which suited us because we relied on reverse-swing. We also had one of the best spinners at the time in Saqlain Mushtaq. Nobody could pick the doosra delivery that he had invented at the time.
“Sachin [Tendulkar] played him well after the first innings. Every time he bowled the doosra, Sachin went for the lap shot just behind the ‘keeper. A very odd shot to play against the off-spinners doosra but he mastered it and that’s why Sachin was one of the greatest of all time,” Akram said.
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