Former Pakistan captain Saleem Malik, looking back at his troubled relationship with Pakistan’s legendary pace duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, has claimed that, at one point during his captaincy tenure, the two quicks stopped talking to him.

Malik captained Pakistan from 1992-1995, leading the side to seven wins out of 12 Tests, and 21 victories in 34 ODIs. In 2000, he was found guilty of match-fixing and was banned for life, although the ban was lifted by a local court in 2008.

Speaking to Geo News, Malik trained his guns at Wasim and Waqar, claiming that the duo didn’t want to see him succeed as a captain. He claimed that the side’s premier bowlers wouldn’t even speak to him after he was made skipper, and were eyeing the position themselves.

“In the series against South Africa [in 1994], we had won five matches out of six, beating everyone,” Malik said. “Now, because I was winning matches, and had won all series until then, some people had a problem with it, wondering ‘How should we counter him? What should we do so that he is removed?’ I didn’t understand back then what was happening because I was not part of any politics.”

Speaking about his relationship with Wasim and Waqar, the two spearheads of Pakistan’s pace attacks through the Nineties, Malik said that the two gave him a hard time during his captaincy stint, refusing to speak in anger.

“Wasim and Waqar were my support, but as professionals, they would focus on their own performances. Do you know, when I was made captain, both of them (Wasim and Waqar) wouldn’t speak to me. I even talked to them about it a couple of times.”

Malik then went on to describe how he pitted Wasim and Waqar against one another to give their best for Pakistan.

“When I would ask them to bowl… do you know how I used to manage them at that time? When I would go to Wasim to hand him the ball, he would snatch it from me, because he wasn’t talking to me,” Malik said, “There was anger because I had become captain, whereas Wasim and Waqar wanted it. Both of them weren’t speaking to me, and yet we won the series. Wasim would snatch the ball from me and walk away, and I would walk along with him. Waz wasn’t talking to me.”

“I would tell him: ‘Waz, you’re the No.1 bowler in the world.’ I am saying it to him while he’s walking to his run-up in anger. I said ‘You’re the No.1 bowler, you dismiss him, you don’t, it doesn’t matter to me. You have your own reputation. From the other end, Waqar will dismiss five. I’d say that to him and walk away.’

“When I would go to Waqar, even if he would snatch the ball out of my hand in anger. He would also walk away, and I’d tell him the same thing.”

Malik credited his man-management skills for handling the two big players, saying he had to cleverly use his brains to “get things done out of them.”

However, it didn’t work for long, as according to Malik the duo got together during the South Africa tour, and questioned Malik’s leadership skills.

“At that time, they realised that I have started winning: [they thought] ‘both of us [Wasim and Waqar] are winning it for the team, and he’s benefitting from our fight’. At that time, all of them got together, and played these games [questioning captaincy strategies].”

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