'Had I been Sourav, I would have quit'

Kolkata: Wasim Akram is one of the legends of the modern game, the greatest left-arm swing bowler to have played cricket and a succesful captain of the Pakistan cricket team.

These days he is a no-holds-barred commentator and the city of joy got a taste of the freewheeling Akram on Tuesday.

He's turned 40 this year and it's been over three years since he last played for Pakistan. But Wasim Akram still draws the crowds.

The Pakistan legend was in Kolkata to help spread awareness about diabetes and was inevitably asked about the sore point in Kolkata these days -- the fate of Sourav Ganguly.

"In our culture, we love throwing our heroes away by dropping them. Those who drop drop them, they've hardly played cricket themselves. So, I think the treatment Sourav got from the Indian Cricket Board and the selectors, that's not the way. If I would have been Sourav, I would have finished cricket. The way they are treating him, that's not fair with him and the Indian public," says Akram.

Irfan Pathan's recent run of poor form has caught the attention of the great man. Afterall, Pathan was often compared to Akram himself when he broke into the scene as a precocious talent in 2004.

"I think he's trying to bowl too fast. It means he's running too fast. And when you run too fast, your head moves sideways which affects your length. If he's a left-arm bowler and bowls in-swingers to right-handed batsmen, and if he gets hammered towards point, it means there's soimething wrong, so the problem seems with his wrist as well. So, for that if I meet him, I'll explain it to him for sure," adds Akram.

In between his committments, Akram has kept a keen eye on the goings on in Indian cricket, and he can't quite put his finger on the reasons for India's choices in the seam bowling department.

"I don't know how come Balaji is not in the side. He's one of my favourite bowlers. Apart from Balaji, there's Zaheer as well. Both of them did well, they got four wickets each in Chennai. And Zaheer got lots of wickets for Worcester. So, he is in good knick. And for One-Day cricket, you do need experience, "Akram says.

So there you have it. Akram delivering it as he sees it.

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