Legendary Wasim Akram said Pakistan is "like Brazil of cricket" for regularly producing the kind of raw talent it does, especially in the fast bowling department.
This, while in a conversation with former Australia batsman Dean Jones, who talked about Pakistan's unpredictability, it's imperfect but indigenous system that has given the sport some of its finest-ever cricketers.
"Pakistan brings new techniques, different attitude to international cricket," India Today quoted Jones as saying. "You’re (Pakistan) the talent factory. We in Australia always used to say that Pakistan have so much talent, it’s just the matter of how you harness it."
Feeling flattered by the compliment, Wasim, himself a product of Pakistan cricket, came up with an interesting comparison. "And raw talent, it's like Brazil of cricket maybe," he said, with footballers like Pele, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar coming out from the streets of Brazil and becoming legends of the sport.
Jones remembers how happy he was when Imran Khan's cornered tigers beat England in the final to lift the 1992 World Cup trophy at the MCG.
"When you ripped the English boys apart, was so happy seeing you do that, playing in front of MCG and 100 thousand people supporting Pakistan against England is a great thing," he said.
That whole tournament was peak Pakistan. The team had won just one of its first five games of the nine-team league-phase, beating only Zimbabwe at that stage.
But Imran never lost hope, and also urged the likes of Wasim to keep faith on their abilities.
That spirit came to the fore when the team enjoyed an expected run towards the title, with Imran himself leading from the front. It remains one of the sport's most endearing fairytales.
(Inputs from India Today)
