Wasim Akram, the former captain of Pakistan and former bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), showcased his sharp wit during his guest appearance on Sportskeeda’s YouTube show, ‘Match Ki Baat’.
From Gautam Gambhir’s fixation with the number 9 during his time as KKR captain to Sunil Narine having his car coated in bright pink, the legendary Pakistani cricketer recounted various entertaining stories, ranging from clever to eccentric.
Naturally, much of the conversation revolved around the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), now in its latter half. After 41 matches of this season, Rajasthan Royals (RR) lead the points table with 14 points from eight matches, closely followed by KKR in second place, having secured victory in five of their seven games.
Akram shared an entertaining story about ex-KKR captain and current mentor Gambhir, mentioning that the team’s logistics crew faced challenges because Gambhir insisted on having a room number containing the numeral nine or adding up to nine.
“Gautam Gambhir is a fan of numbers. The team management would always have issues while finding rooms for him because he wanted the number 9 involved in some way, like 45 or 36.”
“Like this, the number 9 had to be a part of it in some way. This is a kind of secret which I told here,” Akram said on SK Match Ki Baat.
Another amusing tale recounted by Akram on the Sportskeeda program related to the fondness of senior KKR spinner Narine for fluorescent pink. The ex-Pakistan captain disclosed that the West Indian player is incredibly fixated on this particular hue, to the extent that he had his car painted in the same shade.
“Sunil Narine is an easy-going person. You know his favorite color is fluorescent pink. If you look closely, his bat grip, his bat or even his car. I think two or four years ago, he got his car painted in fluorescent pink color. He also wears pink glasses,” Akram said on the show.
Narine is presently playing for KKR in the current IPL season and performing admirably. Across seven innings, he has scored 286 runs with an average of 40.86 and a strike rate of 176.54, even securing a century. Additionally, he has taken nine wickets, averaging 22.11 with an impressive economy rate of 7.11.
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