Saleem Malik ordered me to clean his clothes and boots, treated me like servant in my initial days: Wasim Akram

Former Pakistan international Wasim Akram made some shocking revelations in his autobiography 'Sultan: A Memoir', detailing Saleem Malik’s inhuman behaviour towards him in the early part of his career.

Wasim, who made his international debut in 1984, two years after Malik, revealed that Malik used to take advantage of his seniority and used to treat him as a slave. The 56-year-old opened up about all the incidents in his new book as he mentioned washing Malik’s clothes and boots during Pakistan matches and also providing him with body massages.

Now, despite being teammates for several years, the two never got along and were always said to maintain a distance. Akram also played 12 Test matches and 34 ODI matches under the leadership of Malik from 1992-1995. Later, Malik was found guilty of match-fixing and was banned from cricket for the rest of his life. 

“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,” read a portion from Akram's book.

Malik explained his take on the entire saga

Much before Wasim Akram’s book was released for sale, Saleem Malik revealed that both Akram and former Pakistan international Waqar Younis used to be cold to him and never treated him like a captain.

He said that the two pacers used to snatch the ball from him and never responded to whatever he used to say. Malik also hinted that both the cricketers were jealous of him as they wanted to become the captain of the Pakistan team.

“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 had said earlier this year in an interview with a local media channel.