Pakistan national cricket team legend Wasim Akram recently revealed his favourite batsman and bowler in modern cricket and surprisingly gave the cold shoulder to two of Pakistan’s stalwarts – Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam.
Babar Azam is currently the world’s number one ODI batsman and has consistently scored runs for his country across all formats of the game. Shaheen Afridi, on the other hand, has been one of the best young batsmen to emerge from Pakistan and he has also shown his dominance in T20Is, ODIs and Tests.
However, both Pakistani players have not been up to par in recent times. Babar has not been able to contribute consistently to his team and has struggled to get going, while Shaheen has had fitness issues which led to his pace dropping and his wicket-taking ability being reduced.
When fast bowling legend Wasim Akram was asked to pick his favourite fast bowler, he said he might disappoint his countrymen with his choice. Akram named Jasprit Bumrah as his favourite and labelled him as a great modern Indian player, who is equally effective in all formats.
“If I had to pick one, maybe my countrymen wouldn’t like him… My favourite fast bowler has to be this great Indian, the great Jasprit Bumrah. He’s something very different and he impressed me because he’s a good bowler in all three formats,” Akram said during an interview with AmeriCricketTV.
It is noteworthy that Jasprit Bumrah is currently the number one bowler in the world in terms of skill. He has been the main reason why India is a dominant force in world cricket and is the only bowler in the history of cricket to have reached the number one position in the ICC rankings across all formats.
Wasim Akram also praised American pacer Saurabh Netravalkar, who shone in the T20 World Cup and took the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He said:
“Very impressive. He keeps getting wickets. I think he is a computer engineer, but he can bowl regularly now. He is not very fast, but he handles the ball very fluently and has good variation.”
The greatest batsman of all time is Sir Vivian Richards, but… – Wasim Akram
Wasim Akram was also asked to pick his favourite batsman and he spoke about the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border, Martin Crowe, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara before naming Sir Viv Richards as the greatest of all time. Wasim Akram stated:
“I played in the 90s. I have played against all those greats. If you talk about Sunil Gavaskar of India, Martin Crowe of New Zealand or Allan Border of Australia, they are all big names but there is one that comes up on the list – the great Sir Vivian Richards of the West Indies. I think for me he was the greatest batsman of all time to have graced this beautiful game but then in the 90s I played against the great Sachin Tendulkar, the incredible Brian Lara of the West Indies and the Waugh brothers of Australia.”
Akram added that among the current batsmen, Virat Kohli and not Babar Azam is his favourite. The Pakistan great said:
“The greatest batsman of all time is Sir Vivian Richards, but at present, if I have to choose, it has to be another Indian batsman whom I really admire, not just on the field but also off the field, for his fitness, routine and mentality – Virat Kohli, one of the biggest names in world cricket.”
