Quotes from Wasim Akram

It doesn't matter which era you play in. Wickets are the only way you can contain. Restricting the batsmen to six runs in the first over may look okay but in the next over they will hammer the other bowler. Giving ten runs and taking a wicket - I'll take that any day.

I was over the moon after bowling Chris Lewis and I was a little nervous about the hat-trick. You know it is a dream come true for any player to perform in the finals of a world cup.

As a bowler you need to keep an eye on what the batsman is trying to do till the last moment.

As long as I have been playing internationally as a cricketer, no-one has ever come up to me, nor mentioned anything to me, nor offered me anything when it comes as regards these open flowing but stupid allegations of fixing matches etc.

I think it's related. Batting and captaincy or bowling or captaincy. If you are doing your job well as a batsman, then the same confidence comes in to what you do as a leader.

Chris Gayle is the biggest hitter. He hits long, he hits big, he is a big dude.

Coaching is a very different skill. You need patience, you need a lot of organisation. I don't have any.

Obviously fitness matters and at a certain age batsmen get the knack, batsmen get an idea how to get runs and I think he got the idea about 2-3 years ago how to get runs, what sort of shots to play and reading the situation.

I was inspired by the great West Indian fast bowler Joel Garner's action. I gained confidence knowing I was emulating his action and eventually perfected the Yorker.

I learnt the slower ball in the post-1992 period after I saw Franklin Stevenson of the West Indies in the county circuit. I would practice in the nets, hit people on the head, have the ball fly over the nets. I got it right after a lot of practice.

I can make a good consultant, I can fine-tune bowlers, give them mental toughness, talk about how to bowl under pressure, how to bowl with the old ball.

As a bowler our job is to create doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

I think it is time Pakistan has a cricket academy. In fact, they are thinking of having one; the sooner they have one the better it will be for Pakistan cricket.

I am not a fool. I keep on hearing and seeing the way people misbehave with their coaches and seniors.

I have toured Bangladesh plenty of times and the pitches were unbelievable.

Test cricket is not easy. If you haven't played first-class cricket for five years, then your muscles aren't used to bowling for that long.

Very simple; we cricketers feel more comfortable with foreign coaches. We feel they don't have any personal agendas against us and will be neutral. We feel we can trust them. That's what I felt as a cricketer.

If you win one or two matches at home on good wickets, on grassy wickets, you'll develop confidence automatically.

I believe my actual job is that of a mentor. I don't just talk about bowling. I discuss batting, I discuss fielding, I discuss team selection, talking to every boy individually on and off the field, giving them confidence and if they are struggling with their cricket, talking to them about their cricket.

I think what pace bowlers need to do in T20 cricket is not just run up and bowl fast. It's not about brute pace in T20, it's about the variation.

I don't judge a player by T20 performance, I judge them from their performances in longer version of cricket.