Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has revealed that he was addicted tococaine after he ended in career in cricket.
The Sultan of Swing made the revelation in his upcoming biography book“Sultan: A Memoir” excerpts of which were published by an Englishpublication, The Times, along with his interview.
Akram is Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in both Test and ODI cricket. Hebade farewell to cricket in 2003 after an 18-year international career.
The left-armer revealed that he developed the cocaine addiction after hisretirement as he was finding a “substitute for the adrenaline rush ofcompetition”. He added that he got rid of the menace in 2009 after thedeath of his first wife, Huma.
“I liked to indulge myself; I liked to party,” an excerpt of his bookreads. “The culture of fame in south Asia is all consuming, seductive andcorrupting. You can go to ten parties a night, and some do. And it took itstoll on me. My devices turned into vices.
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“Worst of all, I developed a dependence on cocaine. It started innocuouslyenough when I was offered a line at a party in England; my use grewsteadily more serious, to the point that I felt I needed it to function.
“It made me volatile. It made me deceptive. Huma, I know, was often lonelyin this time… she would talk of her desire to move to Karachi, to be nearerher parents and siblings. I was reluctant. Why? Partly because I likedgoing to Karachi on my own, pretending it was work when it was actuallyabout partying, often for days at a time.
“Huma eventually found me out, discovering a packet of cocaine in mywallet… ‘You need help.’ I agreed. It was getting out of hand. I couldn’tcontrol it. One line would become two, two would become four; four wouldbecome a gram, a gram would become two. I could not sleep. I could not eat.I grew inattentive to my diabetes, which caused me headaches and moodswings. Like a lot of addicts, part of me welcomed discovery: the secrecyhad been exhausting.”
