'Nobody has approached me,' says Wasim Akram

Wasim Akram has stated that the whole issue about his coaching India's bowlers was a "misunderstanding", and that there was no truth in the recent reports linking him to an official post. Speaking at the Scorpio Speedster contest in Mumbai's Shivaji Park today, he said: "There is no truth behind these statements. There has been no offer from the BCCI. Nobody has spoken to me."

He also said that he was aware about a court case being filed against him in Lahore in this regard. When asked to comment on that he said, "If there is any truth in the statements I can comment on this, but the fact is there is no truth."

"Wasim bhai", as everyone fondly referred to him, confirmed that he had signed an 18-month contract with ESPN-Star Sports as a TV commentator. He said he was looking forward to working with old friends like Ravi Shastri and Geoffrey Boycott, and added: "I enjoy spending time with them."

He also confirmed: "My playing days are over. Nobody can go on forever. I played only half a season with Hampshire, and decided to stop after that."

He was aware of Shivaji Park being the ground where Sachin Tendulkar learnt his trade, and reminisced about bowling in Santh Nagar - a similar ground - when he was young. And he mentioned that Kapil Dev was one of his idols when he grew up.

Wasim was very excited about India and Pakistan renewing cricket ties. He said his fondest memory of visiting India was "the standing ovation that we got at Chennai after winning the Test match in 1999". He ended by saying that if there was one moment he would like to relive from his cricket career, it was from the World Cup final at Melbourne (where he was Man of the Match): "I would love to go back to 1992 and bowl those two balls to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis."