File photo of Mohammad Amir.
Pakistan bowling great Wasim Akram has said struggling pacer Mohammad Amir must try to regain his trademark inswing to make an impact on the international stage again.
Amir, who made a comeback into the Pakistan side at the start of 2016 following a lengthy ban for spot-fixing, was dropped from the side in late September for lack of form.
Akram, considered one of the game’s most devastating left-arm fast bowlers, said technical flaws are hampering the progress of the quick bowler who was the game’s rising star before his ban in 2010.
“Amir’s pace is there. He is still one of the quickest in Pakistan (but) I feel with the new ball, he is not swinging as much,” Akram said in a new interview posted on social media yesterday.
“If you see his spell in the Champions Trophy final (against India last year), he got wickets. With the new ball, he has lost his inswing,” Akram, the man of the match in the 1992 World Cup final, added.
“In the last edition of the Pakistan Super League, I told him that at the last step before his final delivery stride, he jumps to a side causing him to lose the wrist position (that generates swing),” the 52-year-old said.
“So when you want to move closer to the wickers before your delivery stride, a bowler will have to train the change in action or position for at least six months before you get complete control of the swing.
“That’s because you have trained yourself in the mind to land in a specific way so unless you change that, you won’t be able to swing the ball,” Akram explained.
Akram, who appeared in 104 Tests, was tutored by former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan for early part of his 19-year-old international career.
The fast bowler blossomed under the tutelage of Khan who captained the side when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup beating England in the final in Melbourne.
“My all-time favourite cricketer has always been one man and it will always be that guy - and that is Imran Khan,” Akram said when asked about his favourite player who is now the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
“In my younger days, I would have his poster of Imran Khan adorning the walls of my room. In fact I had posters of Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas and Asif Iqbal also. I used to go watch them practice at Qaddafi Stadium,” Akram said.
“What made him great was that he always led from the front. I met him when I was 17 or 18. I had just played for Pakistan (November 1984). What a good leader does is he believes action speak louder than words.
“And nobody knew this better than Imran Khan. He used to lead from the front. You’d never find Imran sitting in one place and asking his team players to do all the hard work like sprinting across the ground or asking them to go to the gym.
“Imran had this tremendous belief in himself because he worked hard. He knew hard work would lead him to success. He is still very fit. He runs every morning. He goes to the gym regularly and he eats healthy. That’s very important for anyone at any age,” Akram recalled.
“Imran would be very tough on players pretending to be working hard whereas they would essentially be sulking from hard work. He could easily gauge from a player’s attitude whether and an individual was genuinely breaking a sweat or just pretending to be ‘busy’. You could never fool him. He would tell us to play brave and bold cricket and made sure we weren’t actually faking our courage,” Akram said.
Akram said current Pakistan selector and former skipper Inzamaul Haq remained ‘one of the game’s greats’.
“Imran Khan rated Inzy very highly. You don’t see such players nowadays. Whenever he played the fast bowlers, you would sense that he had that extra second at his disposal to crack those shots he played (presenting an on-drive flick with his hand),” Akram said about Inzamam.
“He was pretty much like Rohit Sharma these days. Any pacer who would normally disturb top order batsmen would find it difficult with Inzy. He was a phenomenal talent. There’s no doubt about that.
“He did not live up to his potential at the start but once he settled down, he worked really hard and developed into a world-beater. He won Pakistan so many matches, yes. He is definitely one of the greats of the game in my book. Imran gave him the confidence at the beginning. Skipper knew he had it in him to be a great player,” Akram, who played 12 years along side Inzamam, added.
Akram said lack of international cricket in Pakistan was hampering the game’s development in the country.
“These days it is so unfortunate that youngsters or budding cricketers in Pakistan do not get the chance to see their heroes in action like how we did when we were in our teens,” Akram said.
“For the last seven or eight years, that has not been the case and I feel for the youngsters. In fact I also feel for young Pakistan international players who don’t get to play in front of their own fans. Young players get to play (domestic) matches in front of empty stadiums.
“When we used to play, any hotel lobby would be packed with fans. When we would commute in the team bus, there would be crowds everywhere we went. Fans would be waving at us because we were their own team.
“It is so difficult to motivate youngsters to take up cricket now. I am talking about young cricket fans who want to be like their heroes. When they don’t see them play at home then it becomes so difficult to sustain their (dwindling) interest,” Akram said.
