I lost a father-figure when Bob Woolmer died, says Shoaib Akhtar
Former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he lost a friend and a father figure with the death of former head coach Bob Woolmer during the 2007 ODI World Cup. Akhtar also recalled the time he spent with the late Englishman and credited him for changing the careers of many Pakistani players.
The news of Woolmer found dead in his hotel room, hours after Pakistan had been knocked out of the 2007 World Cup at the hands of minnows Ireland, shook the cricketing world as one. As for Pakistan’s players, management staff, and the cricket board (PCB), it was chaos all around, with the team yet to play their final game of the tournament.
“It was all so chaotic at the time. Rumours relating to match-fixing, possible murder, etc were all going around. Nobody clearly knew what had happened. But, for me, I lost a friend, a father-figure. We didn't start off our relationship on the same page — our perspective towards cricket was different. But eventually, we had become good friends. We spent a lot of time together,” Akhtar said in a video on his YouTube channel.
After coaching stints in South Africa and England, Woolmer took over as head coach of the Pakistan team in 2004, right after Pakistan had lost a home Test and ODI series to arch-rivals India. Under Woolmer, Pakistan returned the favour in 2005, holding India to a 1-1 draw in the Tests, before beating them 4-2 in the ODIs. Akhtar fondly remembers the vast contributions from Woolmer with the time he had with Pakistan cricket.
“He spent a lot of time with (Mohammed) Yousuf, Younis (Khan), the youngsters — everybody from the gatekeeper to everyone at the academy. We really appreciated the fact that he went out of his way to help people out. All his investment into players paid off after he had passed. Younis and Yousuf became world stars. He has done a lot for Pakistan cricket,” Akhtar added.