Akram worried about Imran

Wasim Akram’s mind was not really on the action at the MCG. His concern is not hard to relate to.

Wasim Akram’s mind was not really on the action at the MCG. His concern is not hard to relate to. The former Pakistan skipper woke up this morning and found a text message on his cellphone. The contents shocked him.

“I was shocked to wake up in the morning and read the message that Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. She wasn’t a keen cricket buff and I was surprised when she met me in Dubai a few years back and recognised me and spoke to me for a few minutes. Her assassination is a terrible setback for all of us,” he said, his expression becoming grimmer.

“My family is now in Karachi and I have not yet spoken to them. I believe things are not good there,” he said, adding that he was concerned with the riots that were taking place in various Pakistani cities. Karachi has been placed under shoot-at-sight orders.

Story continues below this ad

Akram was also worried for the safety of his former skipper and pace-bowling partner Imran Khan. Imran, now the leader of Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, is a political personality now who was earlier put under house arrest when he had called for an uprising against General Pervez Musharraf.

And would this whole atmosphere affect the game in the country? “It’s a situation that the Pakistan Cricket Board can do nothing about. First the country has to settle down into some state of normalcy.”

Meanwhile, there are fears that Australia may pull out of their tour to Pakistan this March, with reports that Cricket Australia is even mulling financial compensation or seeking ICC intervention in the matter.

However James Sutherland, CA’s chief executive, denied any move towards a pullout or playing at a neutral venue. “In February we will take a look at the circumstances that are relevant to the tour,” he said. “Right now playing in a neutral venue is not something that’s under consideration. There’s a commitment to tour Pakistan and we’ll be pursuing every avenue we can for that tour to go ahead.”

Story continues below this ad

A high-level security delegation will visit Pakistan in February and will coordinate with the government to assess the situation on the safety of the players that Sutherland suggested remained of paramount importance.