Pakistan is Brazil of Cricket, says former cricketer Wasim Akram

Brazil used to rule the Football world winning as many as five World Cups during their reign. Though they aren’t the force anymore they used to be in sport, no country has yet managed to level or go past them in this aspect. The talent in Brazil in the sport was unmatched. The former cricketer Wasim Akram has compared Pakistan cricket to Brazil now for the kind of talent the country possesses.

He was recently involved in a conversation with the former Australia cricketer Dean Jones on the latter’s Youtube channel. Jones was recently in Pakistan for the PSL as he was the coach of the Karachi Kings and stated that the the Australian are always overawed with the kind of talent Pakistan cricket generates every now and then.

“You’re (Pakistan) the talent factory. We in Australia always used to say that Pakistan have so much talent, it’s just the matter of how you harness it,” Jones mentioned during the conversation. To this, Wasim Akram reponded that the country possesses raw talent and compared with Brazil who once used to dominate Football. “…..Raw talent, It’s like Brazil of cricket,” he said.

Dean Jones closely associated with Pakistan cricketers

Dean Jones has been closely associated with Pakistan cricketers over the years having coached Islamabad United before and he was replaced by Misbah-ul-Haq ahead of the PSL 2020 season. He cited examples of the fast bowlers the country has produced over the years and also highlighted the current crop which is coming up. The teenagers Naseem Shah and Musa Khan recently made their international debut during the Test series in Australia.

“Pakistanis bring different techniques to international cricket, different attitudes fast bowlers like yourself (Wasim) and Waqar (Younis), Shoaib (Akhtar), and of course Abdul (Qadir) and Mushi (Mushtaq Ahmed) and all these great bowlers that are coming through even now,” a veteran of 52 Tests and 164 ODIs said.

Speaking about the Pakistan cricket, Dean Jones feels that the tables started to really turn for them in the late 1980s after Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister of the country, took over as the captain. “Cricket is in the DNA, it’s been great for a long time but really started to turn big time in the late 80s when Imran took over, when you rip England apart in front of a 100 thousand people at MCG (in 1992) was amazing,” Dean Jones further added.