Would have killed Wasim Akram had he asked me to fix matches, states Shoaib Akhtar

A man who takes immense pride in his honesty and values and often minces no words, Shoaib Akhtar has stated that he might have even killed former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram had the latter approached him asking him to fix matches. Pakistani cricket, unfortunately, has been tainted by the cloud of match fixing, especially post the 2000s, and Akhtar, who always been vocal about his detestation for dishonesty, admitted that he was glad Akram never indulged in any heinous act. 

"I was watching few matches of the 1990s and I was amazed to see how Wasim Akram got Pakistan through impossible situations with his brilliant bowling," Cricket Pakistan quoted Akhtar as saying during a television show, reported TOI.

"I will say it very clearly that if Wasim Akram had asked me to do match-fixing, I would have destroyed him or even killed him. But he never said such a thing to me.”

While the aforementioned statement does sound a bit skeptical, Akhtar was, however, nothing but full of praise for his former skipper Akram, who moulded the Rawalpindi Express into the feared weapon that he eventually became. The 44-year-old recalled how Akram would help him bolster his wicket-column by making him bowl against the tail-enders and revealed that the legendary left-armer even allowed a young Akhtar to bowl from his preferred bowling end.

"I played with him for seven to eight years and I can quote many instances where he gave me cover by taking the responsibility of picking up the top-order wickets while leaving the tail-enders for me. He even let me bowl from my preferred bowling even though he had a lot more wickets that I did.”