Legendary pacer Wasim Akram was one of the few bowlers to have mastered the art of reverse swing. Not just his ability to swing the ball both ways but the ease with which he did it made him a very lethal fast bowler.
The fact that he is the only left-arm pacer with more than 400 Test wickets speaks something about his dominance. With 502 wickets, he also holds the record for the most number of wickets in ODIs as a pacer.
After retirement, he has also been part of a few coaching stints, one of which being with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Former KKR player and another iconic fast bowler Brett Lee recounted a captivating incident involving Akram and how it took just 5 balls for the Pakistani great to dismiss all-rounder Jacques Kallis while others, including the Australian, labored.
The former Australian cricketer described the incident on his YouTube channel Brett Lee TV, saying that he was getting ready to bowl to Kallis during a practice session. He then asked Wasim Akram how he would have approached the South African legend and the ex-Pakistan captain replied: “Try and shape the ball away, you may want to change the position of the seam there.”
Lee made an effort to follow instructions precisely, but it was useless because Kallis was batting with just as ease. In addition to Lee, other bowlers also had trouble against Kallis.
“I am trying really hard to get Kallis out but this guy is going bang bang (Lee gestures with his hand how Kallis is middling everything with the full bat face). I could not get Jacques Kallis out. All our bowlers were struggling with a brand new ball on a brand new wicket, and Kallis was making it look so easy.”
When others were having trouble, Akram decided to have a go as well, and in just five balls, the ‘King of swing’ defeated the former South African skipper.
“He warms his shoulders up, He had sand shoes on, no spikes and I ask him, what are you going to do?”
“I will take four back in and one away,” Lee recalls Akram telling him. “I go what? That simple?”
The 5 balls begin with Kallis showing respect to Akram, and again on the subsequent delivery. As Akram swung his back into him, things started to alter, but Kallis handled it easily.
“The seam is now a fraction straighter and he swings the ball back in. Once again, same result, Jacques Kallis flat bats (it). As he walked back, he winked at me, and said ‘watch this!’ He turned the ball over and did that with the seam position (Lee shows how the seam is now pointing towards first slip), and took one away straight.”
“Nick and gone!”
“And I said, Mate! You are a genius!”
The Australian, further said: “We were bowling all day to get Jacques Kallis out and he does with exactly as he said four balls with no spikes on, uneven rubbers, and that sums up."
(HT INPUTS)
