Wasim Akram, a former captain of Pakistan and a legendary bowler, disclosed his cocaine addiction in his autobiography, Sultan A Memoir. In a recent interview with the Grade Cricketers’ Podcast, the former left-arm seamer, who is currently promoting his book, disclosed that he was forced to spend two and a half months in a rehab facility in Pakistan. He added that it is “criminal in the world, but not in Pakistan” to keep someone against their will.
Talking about how he eventually became addicted to cocaine, Akram said: “In England, somebody at a party said ‘you wanna try it?’ I was retired, I said ‘yeah’. Then one line became a gram. I came back to Pakistan. Nobody knew what it was but it was available. I realised, I couldn’t function without it, which means I couldn’t socialise without it. It got worse and worse. My kids were young. I was hurting my late wife a lot. We would have arguments. She said I need help.”
“She said there’s a rehab, you can go there. I said alright I will go there for a month but they kept me there for two and a half months against my will. Apparently, that is illegal in the world but not in Pakistan. That didn’t help me. When I came out, a rebellion came into me. It’s my money, I stayed in that horrible place against my will,” he stated further.
Further talking about his rehab experience, Akram said: “In western movies, even in Australia you see rehabs have lovely big lawns, people give lectures, you go to gym. But I went to a place (in Pakistan) with a corridor and eight rooms, that’s it. It was very very tough. It was a horrible time.” “Then a tragedy happened, my wife passed away. I knew I was on the wrong path, I wanted to get out of it. I had two young boys. In Western culture, a dad is involved fifty-fifty (with the mother). You wake up in the morning, drop your child to the school, pick them up, and change clothes. In our culture, as a dad, we never do that. It’s the wife’s turn. Our job is to go out and raise funds. I was lost for two years. I never knew where I had to buy clothes for them.
“I didn’t know what they ate, I had to go to every class, and attend parent-teacher meetings. I had to be friendly with their friends’ parents. But I must say, every parent around my kids helped a lot,” he stated further. Akram played for Pakistan in 104 Test matches and recorded 414 wickets, which is still the most for a bowler from that nation. Additionally, he took 502 wickets in 356 ODIs.