![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/47881_8333456_updates.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Pakistan captain Wasim Akram (Left) is frustrated by his fielders as Indian captain Sach Tendulkar looks on during his innings of 41 during the Carlton and United Breweries one day international between India and Pakistan at The Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, Australia. – AFP<\/p>\n
Former Pakistan captain and legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram has named the toughest batter he bowled to and revealed his top five cricketers from his playing days.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast alongside England greats Michael Vaughan, Sir Alastair Cook, David Lloyd, and Phil Tufnell, Akram reflected on the highlights of his 17-year career.<\/p>\n
When asked to name the best batter, the 59-year-old picked West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople often ask me who the best batsman I bowled to was. For me, it has to be Sir Vivian Richards. It\u2019s not just about his batting\u2014it was the whole package, the charisma he carried with him,\u201d Akram said.<\/p>\n
He added that he also faced many other greats, including Allan Border, Graham Gooch, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSir Viv was at the end of his career in 1987\u201388, but what a character he was\u2014everyone\u2019s hero,\u201d Akram noted.<\/p>\n
The legendary left-arm pacer went on to name the five best cricketers he played against during his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy top has to be Imran Khan, because of what he did for Pakistan. Then Viv Richards, Martin Crowe, Brian Lara, and Sachin Tendulkar,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n
Akram also recalled some of the toughest contests he faced, singling out Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist in ODIs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI very rarely played against the great Ricky Ponting, but in ODIs Adam Gilchrist was one who really troubled me,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n
When asked about the best countries to play cricket in, Akram chose England and Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to pick just one. England is special because of its rich history, excellent facilities, knowledge of the game, and easy travel. And then, of course, Australia,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I remember touring there in 1989 after my first year with Lancashire, and Imran [Khan] told me, \u2018If you perform against Australia in their own conditions, you\u2019ll be recognised straight away.\u2019 And that\u2019s exactly what happened,\u201d Akram concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pakistan captain Wasim Akram (Left) is frustrated by his fielders as Indian captain Sach Tendulkar looks on during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[41150,1721,40532,20453,15623,101,56,54,55,30502],"class_list":["post-80976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-akram","tag-cricket","tag-imran-khan","tag-pakistan-cricket","tag-sachin-tendulkar","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wasim-akram"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}