WATCH- ‘Social media generation of Pakistan refers to me as match-fixer’- Wasim Akram

Akram was accused of fixing an ODI in 1996 vs NZ and faking injury before '96 WC SF vs India.

Wasim Akram with his Man of the Match award in 1992 WC final which Pakistan won | GettyFormer Pakistani captain Wasim Akram is widely considered to be the best-ever left-arm pacer to play the game, after ending his career with 414 wickets in 104 Tests and 502 wickets in 350 ODIs from 1984-2003.

He was also Player of the Final in Pakistan’s only World Cup win in 1992 and captained Pakistan to the final of the 1999 World Cup.

However, in his career, Akram was accused of match-fixing and he has often spoken about how certain people in Pakistan still believe him to be a match-fixer.

There were rumors of Akram trying to fix a 1996 match between Pakistan and New Zealand in Christchurch and also about his late withdrawal from the 1996 World Cup quarter-final loss to India.

“In Pakistan, rumors still persist – ‘he’s a match-fixer', it hurts a lot”- Wasim Akram on darkest phase of his career

He lamented the fact that despite being cleared in an inquiry conducted by Justice Qayyum, the younger generation of Pakistan who are active on social media, still refer to him as a match-fixer, while he receives great love and respect from people in India, Australia, England, and West Indies.

"In Australia, England, West Indies and India, when they talk about the World XI, when they talk about the best bowler in the world, my name pops up but in Pakistan, this generation, this social media generation, they are the one who come down, every comment they send, they say, 'oh, he is a match fixer', not knowing what it was," Akram told Wide World of Sports.

"I have passed that stage in my life where I have to worry about people," he stated further.

 

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 21 Nov, 2022

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