Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram proclaimed his love for Bangladesh cricket and reminisced about his stint in the country’s club cricket when came in as a special guest in Tamim Iqbal’s Facebook live session on Tuesday.
In 1995, Abahani Limited shocked the still budding club cricket scene of Bangladesh by flying in one of the superstars of the game, Wasim, to play for them.
Since then, Wasim has played many international games in Bangladesh soil, which also incidentally included his last Test which took place in Dhaka against Bangladesh in 2002 and has visited the country to do commentary.
‘Bangladesh has been very close to my heart. The people, the food, the country itself and of course the cricket as well,’ Wasim told Tamim in the live session.
Wasim revealed the persuasion of the then Abahani director and the current finance minister of Bangladesh AHM Mustafa Kamal and his curiosity regarding the cricket scene in Bangladesh were the main reasons behind him coming to play club cricket in Bangladesh.
‘First of all, I came to play for Abahani to see how much interest Bangladesh has, as per as cricket concern. Financial gain was a separate matter altogether. Kamal bhai is a very good friend, he invited me out of the blue and said you must come.
‘I played my first game with Akram [Khan]. In the first game, the crowd, it was packed. I was amazed. I was amazed to see the interest in cricket. I had heard stories before, from other cricketers who went and played for the clubs [in Bangladesh]. I never thought cricket is so big in Bangladesh,’ he said.
Wasim joined three former Bangladesh skippers, Minhajul Abedin, Akram Khan and Khaled Mashud, all of whom were his Abahani team-mates, in the live session.
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