Quotes from Wasim Akram

At 15, I was a tape-ball 'professional' and would take ten rupees per game to win matches for different teams.

I have been saying for a long time that bowlers come in packs. When you have a senior bowler in the pack, he can guide the young bowlers in pressure situations by talking with them.

When you become the coach, you need to give at least 200 to 250 days a year to the team and that's a lot of work. I don't think I can manage so much work away from Pakistan, from my family.

You have to be prepared to go along the way life takes you.

At times when you do think or imagine if I was young and playing against Virat Kohli where would I bowl and I do feel it would be a bit difficult to bowl at him. It doesn't matter what sort of pitch it is because he is a complete player.

As a bowler, I was not scared of any batsman. They are not supposed to scare you; you have to scare them.

I would have enjoyed Twenty20. A couple of things: it would have suited my batting style, and of course, it would have suited my bowling too. Because you need a lot of varieties in Twenty20.

Jasprit Bumrah has the best and the most effective yorker among fast bowlers playing international cricket now.

Yet cricket was never the problem. In some ways, challenging as it often was, it was the simplest part of my life. Bowling to Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara or batting against Shane Warne, Malcolm Marshall or Muttiah Muralitharan was child's play compared to handling the expectations of my nation, the turmoil of my team and the machinations of my administration.

you might not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.

When I am in training I eat less carbs; when I'm not, I eat anything.

Coach isn't the one playing. The players do that. The coach can only help with planning so if the team loses, I don't think the coach is not as accountable as we hold him as a nation.

T20 is amazing, good entertainment; there's plenty of money involved and I'm all in for the importance of money in a sport and the players.

From the bowler's point of view, if I look at a batsman, I don't see his shots, I see his defence. If a player has a strong defence, he is a very good player.

In Pakistan, if you have to become a cricketer you have to be a politician first.

It's things that you find difficult as a bowler in matches that you have to practise more. Some people don't, they just think line and length and forget about other things.

People think you get tired quickly when you are a diabetic. But I have taken about 190 wickets in One Day International matches after I was diagnosed for diabetes, and lots even in Test cricket, and never got tired.

When I started bowling with a cricket ball, I was quite nippy, because I was already used to exerting more energy with the tape ball. So by the time I made the switch, I had already strengthened my shoulders.

Of course team spirit and team's strategy matters more than anything else as far as the team is concerned. As far as I am concerned, if the presence of one player is affecting the morale or the spirit of the team, then we might as well rest that player for a while.

You have to assume as a bowler that the batsman is going to hit every ball that he will face. That's where as a bowler you have to fancy your chances. If he is going to hit you, you can dismiss him. That is the confidence I give to my bowlers.

Whenever you see Indian first class cricket on television, you see only a white wicket in a four-day game. And you have after five overs your spinners bowling from both ends on all four days. So how can you improve your cricket or your fast bowlers?

You know, in pressure games everyone tests your skills on and off the field.

Green wickets. That is why everybody wants to be a fast bowler instead of being a spinner or a batsman.

When I had a senior bowler guiding me as a young bowler, I had Imran bhai and I would ask him before every ball. It gives you that added confidence when a senior bowler tells you to do something.