Akram considers coaching?

Wasim Akram, news anchor and one-time fast bowler, has revealed once again that he would like to one day coach the Pakistan team. But as he has done regularly since his retirement, he reiterated that the Pakistan Board would have to accept him on his own terms.

On a visit to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, Akram told reporters that he had received a letter from the PCB about hiring coaches for the national team. The letter stated, however, that only candidates who had undergone coaching courses would be considered, something Akram insisted he was unwilling to do.

'I want to coach the Pakistan team but this is not the way. I have a lifetime experience and don't expect me to wait outside the PCB office holding a letter in my hands seeking a coaching job. With my experience I don't think I require any level of courses.

"My qualification is that I've played more than a hundred Test matches and 350 ODIs all those years. I think I've learnt what they are teaching in the courses."

The concept of hiring the services of players such as Akram is not a new one; in the recent past, there have been regular statements from the board and ex-players such as Akram on coaching Pakistan but little has ever come of it. The idea of using Akram and Waqar Younis as bowling coaches for the academies has been floated publicly, most recently when Younis was pursued as a bowling coach for the tour to India earlier this year. But then, as is the case generally, nothing materialised.

And as if to render any thought of his becoming a coach completely irrelevant, Akram also pointed out that he would have to take into account his media commitments before agreeing to taking on any such project.

Akram also spoke briefly of Shoaib Akhtar, advising him to curtail his run-up to avoid injuries. He was, however, quite impressed with Akhtar's fitness during the training camp. "I have spent some time with Shoaib in the nets and found him fit and keen to perform."