'He Said I'll Kill You, I Went To Imran Khan...': Wasim Akram Recalls When Viv Richards Threatened Him

Former Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram opened up about an incident from the past when he tried to sledge legendary batter Vivian Richards in a Test match in Barbados. The bowling great revealed the incident from the 3rd Test in Barbados during the 1988 series against West Indies.

Wasim Akram, who was quite aggressive, was trying to make an impact as he bowled a threatening short ball to Vivan Richards on the last over of the day. The batting great ducked under it and his cap also fell off.

During an interaction on the popular talk show, The Front Bar, Wasim Akram talked about the incident and revealed that after the lethal delivery, he said bad words to Vivian Richards. However, this didn’t go well with the batting great as the latter told him not to do this.

Wasim Akram mentioned that after Vivian Richards threatened him he went to skipper Imran Khan and told him about the same. He recalled that the captain told him to bowl another short ball and luckily that got the batter out. He added that he hilariously danced in front of the batter. Akram elaborated (as quoted by Indian Express):

“You realise as a bowler that you’ve got some pace. So I bowled the bouncer, his cap fell off. Big deal! Back then, I only knew two bad words. I said them both to Richards. He said, ‘don’t swear at me. I’ll kill you!’ I thought it was a figure of speech! I went to Imran Khan at mid-on and told him that Viv was threatening to kill me. He said, ‘don’t worry. I’m with you.’ He asked me to bowl another bouncer at him. I did. On the last ball of the over, I got an inside edge off him and the ball hit the stumps. I danced in front of Richards.”

“Imran just said, ‘Go, fight! This is your fight! – Wasim Akram on Fight with Vivian Richards

Wasim Akram further revealed that Viv Richards came to meet him outside the dressing room. Akram narrated that the batting great was dressed up like a don and he thought that the batting great would kill him.

Wasim Akram added that he rushed to Imran Khan to tell him that Vivian Richards was outside. The skipper, however, told him to go and fight. He explained:

“I was a young kid, barely 20 years old. I was taking off my shoes in the dressing room after the day ended when the attendant told me someone wanted to see me outside. So with one shoe on, I got up and looked outside. I saw Viv standing there without his shirt on, a bat in his hand, and his pads still on. I got scared, I thought he would literally kill me. I ran to Imran and told him Viv was outside and wants to fight. “Imran just said, ‘Go, fight! This is your fight.”

Wasim Akram ended up as one of the finest bowlers to have played the game. The fast bowler picked 414 wickets in 104 Tests and also bagged 502 scalps in 356 ODI games.