Wasim Akram has responded to the revelation made by Shoaib Akhter in his biography “Controversially Yours,” saying that although disagreements frequently occurred at the initial phase of their careers, it always remained a healthy rivalry between them.
Responding to a question on the ‘To Be Honest’ show, Akram said, “We had our differences. When you are 23-24 years old, it happens. But there was always healthy competition between us. We never used to think bad about each other.”
Wasim and Waqar, also known as the two Ws, were regarded as the most devastating fast bowling pair in the 90s, but rumors of differences between the two legends stayed in the headlines at the time, and fans still ask the same question.
Shoaib Akhtar mentioned one of the incidents during the inaugural Asian Test Championship in which rumors of differences between the two pacers surfaced after Pakistan lost the first match in Delhi.
Further explaining his argument in the show, Wasim added, “We wouldn’t want the other to not pick wickets. In fact, if one used to pick five wickets, the other would say ‘I too would want to get five’.”
The left-arm pacer mentioned the series against New Zealand and went on to say that they saw this rivalry as healthy competition and that they occasionally complimented each other on their accomplishments.
“And that happened too (against New Zealand). So there always was a healthy rivalry, but our moods would remain on and off. Sometimes it also happened because of teammates,” he said further.