KARACHI: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar made a stunning claim, saying he would have taken Wasim Akram's life if the latter made an approach regarding match-fixing.
"I was watching few matches of the 1990s and I was amazed to see how Wasim Akram got Pakistan through impossible situations with his brilliant bowling," Cricket Pakistan quoted Akhtar as saying during a television show.
"I will say it very clearly that if Wasim Akram had asked me to do match-fixing, I would have destroyed him or even kill him. But he never said such a thing to me," he added.
The Rawalpindi Express also thanked Akram for supporting him during the early days of his cricketing career.
"I played with him for seven to eight years and I can quote many instances where he gave me cover by taking the responsibility of picking up the top-order wickets while leaving the tail-enders for me," said the 44-year-old.
"He even let me bowl from my preferred bowling even though he had a lot more wickets that I did," he added.
Akhtar represented Pakistan in 46 Tests, 163 ODIs and 15 T20Is in which he scalped 178, 247 and 19 wickets respectively.
Akram, on the other hand, played 104 Tests and 356 ODIs in which he bagged 414 and 502 wickets respectively.