Wasim Akram recalls the incident when Viv Richards threatened to kill him

Former Pakistan captain and one of the greatest bowlers of all time, Wasim Akram, recently shared a humorous incident involving the legendary Sir Viv Richards. Recalling the incident that took place in the early stages of Akram’s career, he spoke about the match between Pakistan and the West Indies in Barbados in 1988.

Describing the encounter, Akram spoke about the last over of the match, where he, a skinny bowler back then, was up against Viv Richards. Akram said he bowled a bouncer and Richards’ cap fell off – ‘a big moment’.

“It was the last over of match and I was bowling at a good pace, as a bowler you know you have pace. I ran up bowled a bouncer at him and his cap fell down. Falling of Viv Richards cap was a big deal,” Akram said in an episode of The Front Bar.

“I just knew two bad words of English back then and I ran up to him and sledged him using those words. Viv stared at me and said don’t swear at me I will kill you. I thought it was a figure of speech and he would not literally kill me. So I went to Imran Khan at mid on and said that he said he will kill me. Imran said don’t worry, I am there with you, bowl him another bouncer. I bowled another bouncer, then last ball of the day, I bowled another ball, inside edge and on to the stumps. I went up to him and celebrated,” Akram added.

Akram added that when he was in the dressing room after the end of the day’s play and was getting rid of his shoes, an attendant came and asked him to come out as Richards was waiting for him.

“I went back to the dressing room. I was taking off my shoes when an attendant walked in and told me to come out of the dressing room. When I peeped out, I saw Viv Richards standing without his shirt,” Akram remembered.

The former pacer returned to his captain Imran Khan and asked him to intervene, but he asked Akram to deal with his own fight. This response sparked laughter in the audience even as Akram was recalling the sequence of events.

“Viv Richards was waiting for me with a bat in his hand, shirtless and with his pads on. I turned to Imran Khan, but Imran said ‘what should I do. It’s your fight, go and handle it’,” Akram revealed.