Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has been a broadcaster for quite a long time now. He took up the role after retirement from international cricket, back in 2003. One of the country’s finest pacemen, Akram retired with 900 international wickets to his credit. Currently, he is associated with a Pakistani sports channel, called A Sports, to analyse the performance of the Babar Azam-led side in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 Down Under.
Usually, he remains in news for his remarks about the Pakistan cricket team. However, his recent statement on cocaine addiction has caused quite a stir worldwide. Speaking with the Times, Akram revealed that his narcomania began while working as a television expert around the world, following his playing career, but he quit after her wife passed away.
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“The culture of fame in South Asia is all-consuming, seductive, and corrupting. You can go to 10 parties a night, and some do. And it took its toll on me,” Akram was quoted as saying by BBC.
The former left-arm pacer also mentioned the selfless act of his first wife Huma, who died suddenly in 2009 from a rare fungal infection.
“Huma’s last selfless, unconscious act was curing me of my drug problem. That way of life was over, and I have never looked back,” he said.
After making his international debut in 1984, Wasim played 104 Tests and 356 one-day internationals for Pakistan, winning the 1992 World Cup. He led Pakistan in 25 Tests and 109 ODIs between 1993 and 2000 and is widely regarded as one of the best bowlers of all time.
According to Akram, he ‘developed a dependence on cocaine’ while he was travelling away from Huma and their two sons, who were living in Manchester.
“It started innocuously enough when I was offered a line at a party in England; my use grew steadily more serious, to the point that I felt I needed it to function.
“Huma, I know, was often lonely at this time, she would talk of her desire to move to Karachi, to be nearer her parents and siblings. I was reluctant. Why? Partly because I liked going to Karachi on my own, pretending it was working when it was actually about partying, often for days at a time,” he added.
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The legendary quick sought help after his late wife discovered his drug use, but said he had a bad experience in a rehab facility in Lahore and fell back into the habit during the 2009 Champions Trophy, where he worked as a pundit.
Akram said the drugs were “a substitute for the adrenaline rush of competition, which I sorely missed” but Huma’s death shortly after that tournament spurred him to quit. He has since remarried and has a young daughter with his second wife.
(With IANS Inputs)
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