Former Pakistani Wasim Akram says he is called a match-fixer on Pakistan’s social media. Akram opened up about match-fixing allegations against him throughout his career in his latest conversation.
In his latest interview with the international global media outlet Wide World of Sports, he spoke about the match-fixing allegations. Akram said that these allegations urged him to write his biography ‘Sultan: A Memoir.’
“In Australia, England, West Indies, and India my name is taken in World XI as one of the greatest bowlers ever. But in Pakistan, this social media generation refers to me as a match-fixer,” Akram said.
Exclusive: Wasim Akram opens up on his career, Pakistan cricket and dealing with the 'match-fixing' tag. 🏏🇵🇰#9WWOS #Cricket pic.twitter.com/jDUo0zhnwB
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) November 20, 2022
Read more: Former cricketer Wasim Akram debunks fake news of Indian media
He spoke about these allegations after they surfaced again during the T20 World Cup 2022. Akram appearing as an analyst on a sports show had criticized the performance of the Pakistani players during the tournament. After which, Pakistan cricket fans slammed him with match-fixing allegations first leveled against him in the 1990s.
Earlier, Shoaib Akhtar had also defended Wasim Akram against match-fixing allegations.
“I was watching a few matches of the 1990s and I was amazed to see how Wasim Akram got Pakistan through impossible situations with his brilliant bowling,” said Akhtar. “I will say it very clearly that if Wasim Akram had asked me to do match-fixing, I would have destroyed him or even kill him. But he never said such a thing to me,” said the former pacer.
He also thanked Wasim Akram for supporting him throughout his career.
“I played with him for seven to eight years and I can quote many instances where he gave me cover by taking the responsibility of picking up the top-order wickets while leaving the tailenders for me,” he said. “He even let me bowl from my preferred bowling even though he had a lot more wickets than I did.”
“After watching these old matches, I called him and apologized for not truly appreciating his greatness while playing with him,” added Shoaib Akhtar.