'He was disheartened' - Wasim Akram hilariously reveals how he demotivated Waqar Younis during battle with Matthew Hayden

Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has recalled how he failed to motivate his former teammate Waqar Younis during a game and it led to the latter conceding a six.

While the former bowlers forged a deadly fast-bowling partnership for Pakistan, the feud between them was no secret. According to reports, they were not even on talking terms with each other. In his autobiography, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar had revealed that the feud between the two bowling greats began in 1999 after Pakistan lost the Delhi Test against arch-rivals India.

After the end of their playing career, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have buried the hatchet but both have admitted that they were not on good terms during their playing career. And Wasim Akram recently revealed an anecdote that pretty much sums up the feud between them.

Both the former pacers hardly talked to each other and on one occasion, Waqar Younis approached Wasim Akram for some advice while bowling to Australia great Matthew Hayden. In reply, Akram responded rudely and his teammate ended up getting demotivated. Wasim Akram also revealed that Waqar Younis was hit for a six as well by Hayden.

"There was a tall partition and adjacent to that there was another ground. He asked me, 'Wasim Bhai what would happen if I bowl a slower delivery?' I said, You see that partition at mid-wicket? The ball will go beyond that into the other ground," Wasim Akram told Sportskeeda.

"Waqar was disheartened as I didn't give him confidence. He bowled an off-break and Matthew Hayden smashed him into the other ground (laughs). I then told him to climb the partition and bring the ball (laughs)," he added.

His yorkers were the best: Wasim Akram

Speaking further, Wasim Akram heaped praise on Waqar Younis and said that his former bowling partner possessed the best yorkers. He recalled how Waqar managed to bowl yorkers at will and was successful in picking wickets with them as well.

"He (Waqar) was quick. His yorkers were the best. He used to bowl yorkers almost at will and used to get wickets with it in his prime. The bowlers of today's day and age use the word 'workload' a lot.

"We didn't know what workload was. Waqar played county for eight years. His run-up was around 30 metres. He used to sprint from the sightscreen to bowl every delivery," said Wasim Akram.

Both Akram and Waqar are two of the most decorated fast bowlers of all time. At the time of their retirement, they were the leading wicket-takers in ODIs. At present, only Muttiah Muralitharan has more wickets than them in ODIs. Akram picked up 502 wickets while Waqar claimed 416 wickets. In Tests, Akram picked up 414 wickets while his former teammate picked up 373 wickets.