The Picasso of mind games

by Rex Clementine

Three generations of Sri Lankan cricketers have total admiration for one of the finest fast bowlers to grace the game – Wasim Akram. The Sultan of Swing as he is fondly known came into the international scene when Roy Dias was at his prime while Kumar Sangakkara played during the twilight of the great man’s career. Aravinda de Silva bore the brunt of Wasim’s prime and all three generations have little doubt that Wasim was the toughest bowler they faced. The former Pakistani captain is in Colombo as the brand ambassador of Lanka Premier League.

You can not teach someone to bowl fast. You either have it or don’t have it. Wasim in that way was supremely gifted. But what made his opponents to call him the most feared bowler in the game was his ability to outsmart the batsmen and set them up. That’s what someone like Lahiru Kumara perhaps lacks – all brawn and no brain.

Not often do you come across bowlers who are able to generate extreme pace and at the same time move the ball to deadly effect. The older ball was Wasim’s biggest weapon as he made batters eat humble pie with reverse swing.

As Sanath Jayasuriya once said, Wasim gives you a false assurance that you have got the measure of him by sending down a half-volley. That delivery will be elegantly put away. Sometimes he sends down another freebie the very next ball to boost your confidence even further. The next ball will be quicker and on the money and often you are either beaten for pace and bowled, caught behind or trapped leg before wicket. If cricket were a mind game, Wasim was the Picasso of it.

Wasim took two hat-tricks against Sri Lanka in Test cricket. In fact those two hat-tricks came in back to back Test matches in the Asian Test championship in 1998. Rumesh Kaluwitharana was one of the victims on that occasions. He came up with an interesting observation, “Sometimes the ball that he bowled with a short run up was quicker than the one he bowled with a longer run up.”

The run-up had been purposely shortened to fool the batsman that the fast bowler was fed up with it. On some other instances it had been done to give the batsman very little reaction time. None played the mind games better than the Sultan of Swing.

Umpire B.C. Cooray, a honest and tough man, wasn’t giving too many decisions in Wasim’s favour one day at SSC. He was furious. Not only was the umpire being firm, his fielders were a let down as well spilling chances. Wasim then sent down a vicious bouncer for which the batsman had no idea and took evasive action and then Wasim himself completed the catch taking mid-on out of the equation.

Wasim could bat too. There was this Test match in Galle where Pakistan were hopelessly placed. Then he hit a hundred to bail the side out. Wasim’s leadership was inspirational. In the toxic environment of Pakistani cricket, you need a strong leader to hold the team together and this he did exceptionally well having taken over from the great Imran Khan.

Often international cricketers play their cards close to their chests rarely letting out trade secrets. Not Wasim though. Chaminda Vaas has credited him often for teaching some of the little known secrets.

The time that Wasim spends in Colombo is an occasion for us as a nation to celebrate this athlete who has added much colour to the great game of ours. There will be a few parties at Pedris Road close to the Thurstan College swimming pool over the next few days. Lucky are the ones who are invited for these evenings where some cracking cricketing stories will be told. Not only is Wasim Akram a deadly bowler, accomplished batsman and an inspirational leader, he is also one of the finest storytellers in cricket.