Wasim Akram is a legend, says Brett Lee while sharing KKR story

Former Australia pacer Brett Lee was not too visible during the recently held cricket World Cup as an analyst but he is never too far from making the headlines. Recently, the 42-year-old appeared in an interview with Gaurav Kapur on television and there he revealed about a piece of the story about Wasim Akram to convey that the former Pakistan all-rounder is still a legend with a ball.

Lee, no less than a legendary fast bowler in modern times, said the story is from the net sessions of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Lee and Akram were there along with former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis. The Australian was bowling with full pace to Kallis and he was hitting him well.

Then Akram, who was the bowling coach of the KKR, then came in and after swinging the ball one way a few times, he swung it in another direction and had the South African nicking it behind. They all took a bow and Lee said at the interview: “Wasim bhai, you are a legend”. “He was not wearing any spikes, either,” he added.

Akram had advised Lee on how to bowl to Kallis but after he failed to unsettle him, the former Pakistan bowler took up the ball himself and ran in. Lee shared the story after Kapur talked about Akram, saying: “Everybody, every batsman talk about Wasim Akram. They just say they can’t explain. He is a magician.”

Akram scalped over 900 international wickets in a career spanning 19 years

Akram has been one of the greatest left-arm swing bowlers the cricketing world has seen. He made his debut in first-class cricket as well as in international cricket in 1984 and went on to play till 2003, picking 916 international wickets. He has over 500 wickets in 356 ODIs at an average of 23.52 and six five-wicket hauls. What made him even more striking is that he went on to play so long for his country despite having high diabetes.

Both Lee (718 international wickets) and Akram have been part of World Cup-winning teams in 2003 and 1992, respectively.