Sport - Cricket

Akram’s spends time with budding bowlers

NEW DELHI: From a distance Wasim Akram passes off as one of the trainees. So does Manoj Prabhakar. Both crafty practitioners of swing and both willing to share their wisdom, the stars of yesteryear spent time with budding fast bowlers at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday.

Akram is always willing to chip in. At various stages, he has helped Indian seamers on tours and this visit was essentially to identify talent in Delhi.

He has held similar camps in Pakistan and insists that work needs to be done extensively at the grass root level with emphasis on good bowling action, mental and psychological development to challenges.

The legendary left-armer, with 414 Test wickets and 502 in ODIs, was impressed with Delhi’s sensational fast bowler Ishant Sharma. “He will get better. Injuries are part and parcel of the game but I expect him to improve further.”

Prabhakar, who was Delhi’s bowling consultant last season, said, “Can these youngsters get a greater bowler than Wasim? He was a terror with the new and old ball and I hope these boys try and make the most of the time they get to spend with Wasim.”

Akram welcomed Zaheer Khan’s return to form. “I always believed he was a quality bowler. He can swing the ball either way and has a passion for fast bowling.”

Even though Akram conceded the Champions Trophy being put off was a “big blow” for Pakistan’s image, he expressed concern at the state of the game in his country.

“Cricket is in a shambles and there is no direction.” The postponement of the Champions Trophy, under the circumstances, was not too bad, he said.

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