Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain and bowling legend, opened up about his cocaine addiction in his autobiography — Sultan A Memoir. The former left arm sailor has been promoting his book and in a recent interview with the Grade Cricketers’ Podcast, Akram revealed that he was held against his will in a rehab facility in Pakistan for two and a half months. He also said it is “illegal in the world but not in Pakistan” to detain someone against their will.
On how he eventually became addicted to cocaine, Akram said: “In England at a party someone said ‘do you want to try it?’ I was retired I said yes Then one line became a gram I came back to Pakistan No one knew what it was but it was available I realized I couldn’t live without it which means I couldn’t socialize without it. It got worse and worse. My kids were young. I hurt my dead wife a lot. We would fight. She said I needed help.”
“She said there’s a rehab there you can go to. I said ok I’m going there for a month but they kept me there against my will for two and a half months. Apparently that’s illegal in the world but not in Pakistan. That didn’t help me. When I came out, a rebellion came to me. It’s my money, I stayed in that horrible place against my will,” he continued.
Talking further about his rehab experience, Akram said, “In Western movies you see even in Australia rehab centers have nice big grassy areas, people give lectures, you go to the gym. But I went to a place (in Pakistan) with a corridor and eight rooms, that’s it. It was very, very hard. It was a terrible time.”
“Then a tragedy happened, my wife passed away. I knew I was on the wrong path, I wanted to get out. I had two young boys. In Western culture, a father is involved 55/50 (with the mother)” You wake up in the morning, take your child to school, pick them up and change their clothes. In our culture, as fathers, we never do that. It’s the woman’s turn. Our job is to go out and raise money. I was lost for two years, I never knew where to buy them clothes.
“I didn’t know what they were eating, I had to go to every class and attend parent-teacher meetings. I had to be kind to their friends’ parents. But I must say that every parent around my kids helped a lot,” he further stated.
Akram represented Pakistan in 104 Tests and took 414 wickets, which is still the highest for a Pakistani bowler. He also took 502 wickets in 356 ODIs.
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