Pakistan’s fast bowling legend Wasim Akram revealed in his biography ‘Sultan: A Memoir’ that former captain Saleem Malik used to treat him like a servant.
Malik made his international debut in 1982, while Akram made his in 1984. Akram accused Malik of taking advantage of him.
Wasim Akram on Saleem Malik
Saleem Malik made his international debut in 1984, two years after Wasim Akram, who alleged that Malik had previously used his position of seniority and treated him like a slave. In his latest book, the 56-year-old revealed all the details of the incidents, including washing Malik’s clothes and boots while Pakistan was playing and giving him massages.
Even though the two had been teammates for a while, they had never gotten along and were always said to keep their distance. From 1992 to 1995, Akram participated in 34 ODI games and 12 Test games for Malik’s team. Malik was later found guilty of fixing games and was permanently banned from playing cricket.
“He would take advantage of my junior status. He was negative, selfish and treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him; he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots. I was angry when some of the younger team members in Ramiz, Tahir, Mohsin, Shoaib Mohammad invited me to nightclubs,” Akram wrote.
Saleem Malik previously said that Wasim Akram and former Pakistani international Waqar Younis used to be cold to him and never regarded him like a captain. He said that the two pacers used to take the ball from him and didn’t pay attention to anything he said. Malik also made it clear that both cricket players were envious of him because they both desired to lead the Pakistani squad as captain.
“When I would go to Wasim to hand him the ball, he would snatch it from me, because he wasn’t talking to me. There was anger because I had become captain, whereas Wasim and Waqar wanted it. Both of them weren’t speaking to me, and yet we won the series. Wasim would snatch the ball from me and walk away, and I would walk along with him. Waz wasn’t talking to me. I would tell him: ‘Waz, you’re the No.1 bowler in the world.’ I am saying it to him while he’s walking to his run-up in anger. I said ‘You’re the No.1 bowler, you dismiss him, you don’t, it doesn’t matter to me. You have your own reputation,'”Malik said earlier this year.
