India International

Wasim Akram tells ESPN STAR Sports' Supriyo Goswami that Yuvraj Singh is struggling to take his game to the next level.

Wasim Akram has never minced words. According to him Mahendra Singh Dhoni's stature continues to grow in international cricket whereas Yuvraj Singh is still struggling to take his game to the next level.

There was always a question mark as far as the southpaw's place in the Test team is concerned and now runs are also drying up for him in the shorter version of the game. He averages 25.8 in the 22 ODIs he has played in 2008, one would not like to chat about his Test performances in recent time but for the statistically inclined he has scored 49 runs in his last five innings.

Akram is candid when it comes to Yuvraj, "If he has to prove his mettle he has to score runs in Test cricket and more importantly he needs to find a place for himself in the Test squad."

Dhoni on the other hand gets accolades not only from Wasim but also from his mentor, Imran Khan.
Last week Wasim met Imran at Lahore where Pakistan's greatest captain showered words of praise on Dhoni and Ponting. The two giants of Pakistan cricket believe that Dhoni is special simply because he is always leading from the front and setting benchmarks for the team.

Wasim elaborates further by stating, "He comes in at number four with the required run rate hovering around the seven run mark and wins it for the team. His consistent performance is playing a big role in India becoming an outstanding ODI unit."

Figures support the Indian ODI captain's worth. He averaged 69.40 in India's CB series win Down Under earlier this year, a remarkable 109.00 in the Asia cup and 38.60 in the recently-concluded, low scoring India Sri Lanka ODI series.

Gavaskar, Sachin, Azhar, Sourav, Dravid - Wasim has had duels with all of them. Ask him about India's next generation of batsmen, he shoots back without any hesitation.

"I have two favourites, first is Sehwag, for me he is an incredible talent. He was criticised a lot by the media at the outset of his career for playing audacious strokes in Test matches but he remains unfazed. He has just marched on, he has got two triple hundreds and few double hundreds. The key for me is that he sticks to his game and backs himself."

Wasim also has high regards for Gautam Gambhir. "He is improving rapidly in both forms of the game."

A chat with the big man is always incomplete without any discussion about his art. The discussion invariably centers on the Indian attack and Zaheer Khan wins a lot of brownie points.

"When Zaheer got dropped from the Indian side, it was a blessing in disguise. He went to Worcester, lost weight and bowled a lot of overs; that is telling on his performances. Now he is swinging the ball both ways, varying his pace and also bowling yorkers. For me he is now a complete bowler."

He does not have harsh words for Irfan's inconsistency instead he offers some very useful advice, "He should always remember that he is not a fast bowler, he is a swing bowler."

Food for thought for someone who at the early stages of his career was leading the Indian attack with lot of distinction.

Fast bowling legends of the earlier generations hardly broke down. The likes of Wasim, Walsh, Donald also played county cricket in the off season. What is going wrong with the new generation? Why so many injuries?? Why so many breakdowns?

Frank as ever Wasim tears apart the work ethics of the current generation. "Nowadays we have a foreign coach, a foreign physio, foreign support staff but we also need honesty from our lads. The support staff emphasise on cooling down after a long day's play, now what is that, you just don't sit down, you stretch yourself, you swim so that your muscles can relax and you can get rid of the stiffness. In our times we did not even know what cooling down was but we did our fair share of stretching after play and that kept us fit."

Words of wisdom from a man who ended up with 916 international wickets in two forms of the game.