Waqar Younis feels his 'issues' with Wasim Akram did not help Pakistan cricket
The sight of Wasim Akram leaving batsmen bewildered from one end while Waqar Younis sending stumps cartwheeling at the other was quite famous during the 90s. After a long time since retiring from the game, Waqar revealed that his fruitful relationship with the ‘Sultan of Swing’ did not extend off the field.
During a candid chat in ESPNCricinfo‘s Talking Cricket, the 44-year old expressed regret on the fractured dressing room atmosphere which ultimately did not make matters easier for the Pakistan team.
Waqar claimed, “I am really good friends with Wasim bhai, he has always been an elder brother. He has always supported and helped me on the field, off the field. Yeah, we had issues. He didn't only have issues with me but we had issues in the team those days, which yes, if you ask me the truth, yes I do regret at times because you know it did not really help Pakistan cricket.”
However, the right-arm pace bowler insisted that their strained association resulted in a productive competition on the field and went on to attribute the differences of opinion to the exuberance of youth.
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The former skipper felt, “But then again if you look at it, we had issues off the field. But when we walked on to the field, it was different ball game altogether. We wanted to compete (with) each other. We wanted to take more wickets than the other one and I think in a way, it did help.
He added, “But yeah, if you ask me that particular episode, yes, we all regret it because it shouldn't have happened. It was ugly those days but those days we were younger and we didn't know much. Now (we are) probably wiser and we want to improve things. Yeah, you can say that it was a regret.”
Combining pace and swing, the duo played 61 Test matches together and scalped a whopping 559 wickets between them.