Youngsters should focus more on longer version cricket: Wasim Akram
Wasim believes that longer version cricket brings the best out of a fast bowler.
Wasim Akram is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time.
He is fondly called 'Sultan of Swing' because of his ability to swing the ball prodigiously.
The left-arm fast bowler has 917 international wickets to his name and is considered one of the founders and perhaps the finest exponent of reverse swing bowling.
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He joined Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal in a live conversation on Facebook on Tuesday as a special guest alongside former Bangladeshi cricketers Akram Khan, Minhajul Abedin and Khaled Mashud.
While answering a question asked by Iqbal, Wasim Akram said, "It's important to monitor a young fast bowler. As his muscles are still growing, he can easily be exposed to injury. But the most important thing is to play matches."
Wasim believes that longer version cricket brings the best out of a fast bowler. "As a fast bowler, you need to play longer version games. A fast bowler must start playing two-day, three-day games since he is sixteen," said Wasim.
"It's easier to excel in T20 cricket and it is a money earner as well. But it's those two-day, three-day games which can test the character of the bowlers," he added.
Wasim advised the youngsters not to think negatively despite the unfriendly nature of the wicket. "As a youngster, you have to learn to bowl stump to stump and at fuller length no matter how the behaviour of the pitch is," the great fast bowler mentioned.
