'I'm fed up with the attitude of the senior players'
Why does Pakistan cricket go off the rails as often as it does? Wasim Akram thinks it's not just the administration that's at fault

"Why does a coach need power? He's there to coach the team and support and assist the captain. He can't be above the captain" • Indian Premier League
The cricket board and the team management. If you can't handle players, you have no business being in the cricket board. It's simple. You announce the captain and then you back that captain. There's no point announcing a captain for one series, because then the vice-captain will make sure he's got his own bunch ready. Instead of waiting for their turn, they want their turn. That's a problem. Naming a captain for one series means that everyone thinks they have a chance if the current captain fails or the team fails. So what we need is a strong captain who can be there for at least a year to start off, and then see how it goes.
Younis is such a nice guy and a gentleman. But resigning twice from the captaincy of Pakistan is also not right. Being the leader you can't get upset about small things. You need to address the problems you face, not run away from them. That's what Younis has been doing, and now that's what Afridi did. Twice he retired, twice he came back, jumping the gun without thinking of what happens tomorrow.
I think the responsibility lies with the players. They had people to look up to and learn from, not just me but Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq. And they did learn, but they didn't follow through. The goals were not there - the idea that "I will become the world's best allrounder", like Jacques Kallis had. Razzaq had all that talent, but he wasn't strong mentally.
Not at all. It was a matter of time. The problem in Pakistan is that the coach wants power. Why does a coach need power? He's there to coach the team and support and assist the captain. He can't be above the captain. Prime example: Gary Kirsten was the coach of India for three years. I hardly saw him on television. He was never in the forefront. He was always behind the scenes, and that's how coaches should be. I don't understand why a coach wants power when it's the captain who has to do battle on the field, and it's the job of the coach and the vice-captain to support the captain. We don't have that mentality. I really don't understand why the coach needs a say in the composition of the playing XI.
"Constantly retiring and coming back from retirement is not a joke. I'm fed up with the attitude of some of the senior players. There's a saying in Urdu, "Taali do haath se bajti hai", so if the players do these things then the cricket board will be annoyed too"
The interest in cricket is immense. I was in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, and I've seen some talent. Obviously you can't teach it all in half an hour. The idea is for it to be something long term, and I hope to be back in Canada to follow up on what I've told the young guys. I think there should be regular sessions here, not one-offs, if one is trying to help cricket. The Royal Bank of Canada [RBC] has taken the initiative to do this and I hope that they continue calling on top players to come and have a look [at Canadian talent] and guide them how to train and compete at the highest level.
The talent exists. The problem here is that there's no stress on fielding. The grounds are very heavy, the wickets are matting. If cricket is to grow here, the infrastructure has to improve. I'm encouraged by the level of interest here. There are so many teams, so many leagues. But what brings it down for me is the politics that I've been hearing about from people all around.
No, you can actually teach a cricketer between the ages of, say, 18 and 28. These guys can learn, but they need guidance. Somebody has to tell them what needs to be done and how to do it. How much they should exercise, how much they should bowl. You can't bowl for 15 minutes on Saturday and Sunday and improve your bowling. You need to bowl at least five days a week to improve.
I owe this much to cricket. If any youngster comes up to me and asks me for advice, I have to give it. I can't say, "Sorry, you're not Pakistani." For me every cricketer is from one fraternity.
Junaid is talented. He's one of the highest wicket-takers in domestic cricket. He bowls an away-swinger to right-handers, but he's a left-armer. He just needs to bring the ball back in to the right-hander and he'll be as lethal as any bowler in the world. I'm looking forward to seeing him bowl when I'm in Manchester and having a talk with Mike Watkinson, the director of cricket at Lancashire, about Junaid's progress.
Yes, very disappointed. What a talent. He was just starting to become an incredible bowler, someone who can bat, and a tremendous fielder. He had both swing and reverse-swing, he had pace. It's very disheartening to not see such a talent playing cricket right now.
I hope so. He's only 19 or 20 years old. He should come back. Everybody makes mistakes. He was very young and he did get punished for it. Once he finishes his ban we should have him in first-class cricket straightaway and then into the Pakistan team. It will show that, yes, he made a mistake, he was punished, and he has been forgiven. We have to then move on. It will be tough for Amir, but knowing him, he'll practise every day.
I was disappointed. They were the world champions and there were some very good players in that Pakistan side. I think eventually the IPL has to have them back, because these guys are really good. We have two or three players who are excellent for the format. Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Umar Akmal, Afridi - these are all game-changers. It's not about being Pakistani - just as a cricketer I'd want to see these guys because they can make a difference to any team. Afridi has shown it for Hampshire, that he's still a lethal player.
T20 should be taken as entertainment. You can't pick up a player's quality from it. That has to come from Test cricket. The aim for players should be to play Test cricket, not just T20. If you're good at Test cricket, every other format will follow automatically. That's what we have to instill in youngsters coming in. The IPL is new and everyone is learning, even owners and administrators. They need players for the long run, not just for T20. They know that eventually they need players to play for India. If you play for your country after a good IPL performance then it shows that the IPL is the top private tournament in the world.
It's been exceptional for me, especially the team I'm working with. The captain, Gautam Gambhir, and the coach, Dav Whatmore, have been very professional and very thorough, and the owner of the team Shah Rukh Khan has been exceptional as far as his leadership is concerned. He knows cricket but he stays quiet, letting the specialists handle what's their forte. So if anything comes up in marketing, he'll handle that, but if it's cricket, then he leaves it up to Gautam, Dav and myself. I believe that's why the team has really gelled well this year. I'm really enjoying myself. This year was incredible fun. We've got players like Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Brett Lee, Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan. These guys were incredible. For me it felt like I was coaching a national team - the players were so together and so eager to win. When that happens in any team, it's a great sign and always fun.
Faraz Sarwat is the cricket columnist for the Toronto Star and the author of The Cricket World Cup: History, Highlights, Facts and Figures