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The Rediff Profile/ Wasim Akram

The agony of Akram

Faisal Shariff

One World Cup brought with it unimagined ecstasy. The next, unparalleled agony. As a third one looms, Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, and his family, alternate between the two feelings, unsure which one will predominate by the time the last ball has been bowled in this last World Cup of the millennium.

The 1992 World Cup was, for Akram, a moment of glory. Twice before, Pakistan had reached the penultimate round of the competition, yet failed to take that important final step. In 1992, all that changed -- and when the story of that come-back-from-beyond triumph is told, Akram's name is linked inextricably with those of Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Inzamam ul Haq. It was Akram, then a lanky left arm pace bowler from Lahore already tipped by Imran Khan as future captain of Pakistan, who bowled dream spells at opportune moments -- most especially in the final -- to spearhead the Pakistan push for the title.

Imran's prediction was vindicated, and it was as captain that Akram appeared in the 6th edition of the World Cup, on the Indian sub-continent. Captaincy came with its attached heartaches -- a rebellion by fellow players, nagging injuries, the first murmurs of match-fixing allegations...

"It was the most horrible time of our lives," recalls Huma Akram, Wasim's wife and a hypnotherapist of repute.

The reference is to her husband's return home, at the head of the team that had lost the World Cup quarterfinal. The defeat was bitter enough -- what made it worse for the people of that country was the fact that it came at the hands of the one team no Pakistani wanted to lose to.

India.

Today, Huma recalls the hordes of crazed, angry fans who had laid seige to the couple's Z-Block apartment in the Defence Area, Lahore, the stones that came flying in through the windows, the ringing of the telephone bell, each call a fresh threat.

She recalls making the trip to Lahore aiport, then being forced to return home as beseiging fans refused to allow the team to leave the airport. Akram and his team had to fly to Karachi, then return home later.

"There was this band of Karachi-based journalists who damaged Akram's reputation, deliberately laid the blame for Pakistan's loss in the quarterfinal on my husband, even though he wasn't even playing in the game they put the entire defeat down to him," a still angry Huma says. "And it has all taken its toll on my husband."

Apparently, Akram was so hurt at the time, he contemplated quitting the game altogether. "It took time for him to get his composure back, to determine that he would keep playing until he had wiped out all the charges against his name, and could retire from the game with grace and dignity," Huma says.

There is a heavy price to pay for that determination -- Huma reveals that the fifth highest wicket taker in Tests (behind Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Courtney Walsh and Ian Botham) is a diabetic, and requires three insulin injections per day to keep him on his feet and firing on all cylinders.

But just when Akram was settling down to put the 1996 World Cup fiasco behind him and let his bowling arm do the talking for him, came the allegations of match-fixing.

Scandal and condemnation