KARACHI - Pace legend Wasim Akram said Saturday he was confident Pakistan's pool of young fast bowling talent would secure their future as he prepared to train a group of budding bowlers. "Pakistan has enormous talent," said Wasim at the launch of the 13-day camp under the Pakistan Cricket Board.
"Talent keeps coming because there is a passion for bowling fast in Pakistan so we need to nurture the talent and I am confident that the future is secure." The 49-year-old, regarded as one of the best left-arm paceman to have played the game, will train around 20 young bowlers from across the country, in particular from the tribal areas along the Afghan border and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"I am happy that bowlers from remote areas have come to the camp and even though the 13-day period is short but I am sure these bowlers will learn the basics, like I did when I was young," he said. Himself plucked from nowhere during a talent hunt camp in 1984, Wasim rose to enormous heights at international level, taking 414 Test and 502 one-day wickets during an illustrious career.
He formed a lethal new-ball pairing with Waqar Younis, now head coach of the national team, in the 1990s. They were dubbed "The two Ws" who helped Pakistan win a number of series, famously in England in 1992.
Politics should not stop
Pakistan-India series
Meanwhile Akram says politics should not affect his country's cricketing ties with India. "Sports should not be mixed with politics," said Akram. Pakistan plans to host a three-Test series against its Asian neighbor and rival in the United Arab Emirates in December. If it takes place, that will be the two countries' first test matches against each other since 2007, when India won a three-match series 1-0.
Anurag Thakur, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has cast doubt on the series. Akram said the Pakistan team was treated well on a tour of India in 1999 despite restrictions. "We stayed in hotels and we were not allowed to go outside," Akram said in Karachi. "At that time there was politics too, but it should not be mixed with sport."
Thakur, who is also a member of the Indian parliament, blamed Pakistan for several civilian casualties after a gunfight in the Indian Punjab district of Gurdaspur last week. "I was never against the dialogue process," Thakur told website ESPNcricinfo.com. "At the same time, if you do not have good relations, you can't have good cricket." But Akram said such a series topped even the Ashes rivalry between England and Australia. "I think the beauty of Pakistan-India series can't be matched," he said.