Wasim Akram’s claim that Saleem Malik acted selfishly and treated him like a servant during his early years of international cricket have been dismissed by the former Pakistan captain. In his autobiography Sultan: A Memoir, Akram alleged Malik took advantage of Akram’s junior status in the team and asked him to clean his clothes and boots.
In an interview, Malik, who played 103 Tests and 293 ODIs for Pakistan, denied those allegations before adding he won’t make any comment till reading the book or speaking with Akram.
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“I want to ask him for his view on his comments and in what sense did he write those. We used to go on tour for Pakistan tours, there used to be laundry machines there. We didn’t have to use our hands,” Malik told 24 News.
He added, “Till I don’t talk to him or I don’t check his book. I don’t want to comment on it. We are colleagues and spent good time together. So I don’t want to create any controversy.”
Notably, Akram made his debut under the captaincy of Malik and went on to become one of the greatest bowlers to have played the game, arguably the greatest left-arm pacer in cricket history.
“If I was selfish, then how did he play his first match under me? So why would I let him bowl,” Malik said.
He said Akram, by making such claims, is insulting himself.
“The way he is talking about clothes and massage, he is insulting himself. Till I don’t talk to him, I won’t know in what sense he wrote it,” he said.
In his book, Akram called Malik ‘selfish’ and ‘negative’.
He would take advantage of my junior status. He was negative, selfish and treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him, he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots,” reads an excerpt from the biography.
“I was angry when some of the younger team members in Ramiz, Tahir, Mohsin, Shoaib Mohammad invited me to nightclubs.”
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