Islamabad
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes budding pacers need to play the first-class cricket more as to learn bowling saying Twenty20 was not ideal for developing a quality fast bowler.
“The amount of cricket taking place has changed everything,” Akram said on a YouTube channel as quoted by scroll.in.
“T20 cricket does not make bowlers. Back when we used to play, it was six months playing for the national team and another six months for the county team. Youngsters need to play more first-class cricket to learn bowling,” he said.
“T20 is amazing, good entertainment, there’s plenty of money involved and I’m all in for the importance of money in a sport and the players. But I don’t judge bowlers on the basis of their T20 performance. I do so on the basis of seeing how they fare in the longer format.”
The Sultan of Swing, who made his debut in 1984, remembered how he learnt the tricks of the trade from senior players in the Pakistan team at the time.
“When I was new into the team, I used to listen to (former captain) Imran Khan and Javed Miandad remark about me: ‘this boy is a special talent’. “So when I asked them what is so special about me? They said things like: ‘my pace is deceptive, and I swing the ball’. So then I began working on those aspects. —APP
