Wasim Akram

“Obviously fitness matters and at a certain age batsmen get the knack, batsmen get an idea how to get runs and I think he got the idea about 2-3 years ago how to get runs, what sort of shots to play and reading the situation.”

“It's things that you find difficult as a bowler in matches that you have to practise more. Some people don't, they just think line and length and forget about other things.”

“Australia has always been a very competitive team and I always enjoy playing and performing against them.”

“If you win one or two matches at home on good wickets, on grassy wickets, you'll develop confidence automatically.”

“As long as I have been playing internationally as a cricketer, no-one has ever come up to me, nor mentioned anything to me, nor offered me anything when it comes as regards these open flowing but stupid allegations of fixing matches etc.”

“As a bowler you need to keep an eye on what the batsman is trying to do till the last moment.”

“In Pakistan, if you have to become a cricketer you have to be a politician first.”

“When you become the coach, you need to give at least 200 to 250 days a year to the team and that's a lot of work.”

“I learnt the slower ball in the post-1992 period after I saw Franklin Stevenson of the West Indies in the county circuit. I would practice in the nets, hit people on the head, have the ball fly over the nets. I got it right after a lot of practice.”

“I think it is time Pakistan has a cricket academy. In fact, they are thinking of having one; the sooner they have one the better it will be for Pakistan cricket.”

“I have been saying for a long time that bowlers come in packs. When you have a senior bowler in the pack, he can guide the young bowlers in pressure situations by talking with them.”

“Whenever you see Indian first class cricket on television, you see only a white wicket in a four-day game. And you have after five overs your spinners bowling from both ends on all four days. So how can you improve your cricket or your fast bowlers?”

“Very simple; we cricketers feel more comfortable with foreign coaches. We feel they don't have any personal agendas against us and will be neutral. We feel we can trust them. That's what I felt as a cricketer.”

“I think what pace bowlers need to do in T20 cricket is not just run up and bowl fast. It's not about brute pace in T20, it's about the variation.”

“Coaching is a very different skill. You need patience, you need a lot of organisation. I don't have any.”

“You have to assume as a bowler that the batsman is going to hit every ball that he will face. That's where as a bowler you have to fancy your chances. If he is going to hit you, you can dismiss him. That is the confidence I give to my bowlers.”

“I don't judge a player by T20 performance, I judge them from their performances in longer version of cricket.”

“When I had a senior bowler guiding me as a young bowler, I had Imran bhai and I would ask him before every ball. It gives you that added confidence when a senior bowler tells you to do something.”

“When I am in training I eat less carbs; when I'm not, I eat anything.”

“Test cricket is not easy. If you haven't played first-class cricket for five years, then your muscles aren't used to bowling for that long.”