Pakistani cricket legend
Wasim Akram turned 47 few days back. The former all-rounder, who regaled
one and all with his sterling on-field performances and his charm
during his time, is known to have a strong bond with India.
However, his memories connected with India are not all fond, especially so when it comes to his late wife, Huma.
Click next to know why...
Here we take you
through Wasim Akram's relationship with Huma from their first meeting to
Huma's untimely death. It would shed light on the great cricketer's
personal life as not done before.
Love at first sight
Huma and Wasim met each other for the first time at a party in
London in 1988. The handsome and successful Wasim, who exuded charm,
wherever he went, was a real darling of the women. Thus it is no
surprise that Huma was enamoured by him.
It was really the proverbial love at first sight and it seemed that they were pre-destined to meet and fall for each other.
Whatever it might have been, it was well and truly a match made in
heaven. However the couple waited 7 long years before they actually got
married. This was the period when Wasim's international career was at
its zenith.
Prolonged wedding celebrations
It was in 1995 that the blue-eyed boy of Pakistan cricket brought
his love home as his wife. Their wedding was an occasion for fantastic
revelry and the celebrations went on for 3 months.
Those who had attended the wedding say that Wasim, who wore a cream
coloured pathani suit, sherwani and specially-ordered-for Jodhpuri
footwear and Huma, who was clad in a marvellous pink sharara, looked a
royal couple that day.
Huma the mediator
Just after his mariage, Pakistan was slated to tour Newzealand.
Wasim, their pace spearhead however fell out with the captain Salim
Malik. Word has it that Wasim wanted to lead his country, while the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had appointed Malik to this position.
A disappointed Wasim refused to accompany the team down under.
However Huma made her husband realise that much more than captaincy,
what mattered was representing and being an ambassador for the country.
Confirming this, Akram later said that at that time the atmosphere
in the team was not too good and for that reason, he chose to spend most
of his free time with his wife, who was his veritable 'Rock of
Gibralter' in trying times.
It was indeed for Huma that Wasim went to the tour and ended up
claiming 25 wickets in 3 tests, and was adjudged the man of the match
twice.
Fought with PCB, but yet did not let go of his wife
In 1997, the PCB barred the players' wives from accompanying their
husbands on tour. However Wasim was not ready to comply with this
high-handed directive. Hence he took Huma to Sharjah, where Pakistan
were to appear in an one-day tournament.
Huma was an hypno-therapist
In the career of a cricketer and indeed that of any sportsman,
physical fitness has to be complemented by mental strength, which helps
him face failure with the chin up and not get complacent by success.
Being well-versed in human psychology, Huma used to keep Wasim happy and
mentally strong through his many ups and downs.
Wasim had indeed witten in his auto-biography that if it weren't
for Huma, he would have left the game a lot earlier. He wrote, "Huma was
cleverer than me in many ways. She used to keep me psychologically
strong."
Wasim Akram's hypno-therapist wife used to have sessions with her
husband on the night before a match where she helped him to dispel his
tensions.
Huma used to have such sessions with other Pakistani cricketers
like Saqlain Mushtaq and Saeed Anwar as well and helped to up their
performances.
Wasim Akram recounts that in 1995, during the Benson and Hedges Cup
final, her sevices had helped him to no extent when he was feeling
particularly down.
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