‘Shukar hai main khud chhor ke gaya’: Pakistan great’s strong reply to Wasim Akram’s ‘main isko khelne nahi deta’ remark
Pakistan is known for their legendary pace bowlers throughout their cricketing history. While Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were the famed pace duo in the nineties, former captain Imran Khan tormented batting orders across the world in the eighties. At the turn of the 21st century, Pakistan unearthed a host of quality fast bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir, among others.
However, there was another pacer who burst into fame with his brilliant performances – particularly against India – but whose career was cut short amid the match fixing scandal that rocked Pakistan cricket in the late 90s. Javed, however, was widely seen as one of the clean players. Over the years, the former Pakistan pacer levied serious allegations with regards to fixing, and also said in 2020 that Akram had kept him out of the team and that when he was the captain.Akram had reacted rather strongly to the allegation last year. “Main ispe ye kahunga ki agar mujhe pata hota na pehle, main bilkul hi nahi khelne deta. 20 saal ho gaye retire hue, kuch bhi aake bole jaate hain, koi chup kara do inko. Sunta rehta hu main inki ye bongiyaan (I’ll only say that if I knew this earlier, I would have never let him play. It has been 20 years since he’s retired and yet they say such nonsense things. Someone please shut them up a little. I keep hearing such crass things from them),” Akram had stated in a Pakistan television show, where former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Moin Khan was also present.
The clipping from the show was reposted by the channel earlier this week, which prompted a journalist to get a reaction from Aaqib Javed over the same.
“Dekhiye, khelna khilaana toh kismat ki baatein hain. Khel liya jitna khelna tha, lekin shukar hai ki khud chhodke, with big positive reason, main khud hi ghar gaya tha. Kisi ne nikaala nahi tha (See, getting a chance to play is not in your hands, it’s luck. I’ve played my bit, but thankfully I left on my own accord due to a positive reason. No one removed me),” Javed said in a video posted by Pakistan journalist Hafiz Mohammad Imran on his YouTube channel.
Shukar hai main khud chhor ke gaya’: Pakistan great’s strong reply to Wasim
