'If I was narrow minded...': Saleem Malik counters Akram's 'treated me like servant' claim

Wasim Akram has made sensational revelations about his former Pakistan teammate Saleem Malik in his biography 'Sultan: A Memoir'. The legendary pacer has claimed that he was mistreated by Malik during the early days of his career. The former cricketer made his international debut in 1984, two years after Malik made his debut appearance.

As per Akram’s book, Malik used to take advantage of being senior and treated him 'like a servant' while touring with the national team. Malik was the captain of the squad from 1992 to 1995, returning with seven wins in the 12 Test matches and 21 wins in 34 ODI games. Despite being teammates for several years, reports about the two not being on good terms surfaced during their playing days. 

Meanwhile, an excerpt from Akram’s book read, “He would take advantage of my junior status. He was negative, selfish and treated me like a servant. He demanded I massage him; he ordered me to clean his clothes and boots. I was angry when some of the younger team members in Ramiz, Tahir, Mohsin, Shoaib Mohammad invited me to nightclubs."

Malik clarifies Akram’s ‘treated me like a servant’ claim

As per reports, Malik spoke about his equation with Akram during an interview with a local channel earlier this year. The 59-year-old had revealed that Wasim would snatch the ball from him, whenever the pacer was asked to ball. This happened on a regular basis as both players were not on talking terms.

As reported by Cricket Pakistan, Malik dismissed the claims made by the former pacer by replying to the assertions made in the book. “I was trying to call him but he did not answer. I will ask him what was the reason for writing what he did,” Malik said. He further added that Malik didn’t have to wash the clothes by hand and instead with a washing machine. 

‘I will ask him why he wrote such remarks’: Former Pakistan captain Saleem Malik

“It’s not as if he was washing it by hand. If I was narrow-minded, I would not have given him the chance to bowl I will ask him why he wrote such remarks about me,” the former Pakistan captain added. It is pertinent to mention that Malik was found guilty of match-fixing in 2000 and was subsequently banned for life. He scored over 12,500 runs for the Pakistani team in over 380 international matches across formats.