Bollywood superstar Sanjay Dutt calls Wasim Akram 'god of cricket'

03 February, 2024

Dutt made the remarks while addressing an event as he met Akram after a long time.

Speaking at the launch of a digital currency event, the Bollywood hero said that Akram is a brother he had known for many years before he went on to declare him “god of cricket”.

“I am honoured to be here with Wasim bhai. He is a brother I have known for many years and one of the greatest cricketers I have seen in my entire life," Dutt added.

“Wasim Bhai, god of cricket, thank you. And his reverse swing, my God! Everyone would be afraid of him.”

Akram expressed his pleasure of meeting Dutt as the 57-year-old took to his X, formerly Twitter, account to post a picture with his buddy.

“Great to see my buddy Sanjay Dutt almost after a decade, humble as always...#kahlnayak,” Akram posted on X.

In his 20-year-long career, the Sultan of Swing took 916 wickets in 460 international matches in ODI and Test cricket.

He is also the second-fastest bowler to reach 500 international wickets in just 354 matches, only behind Sri Lanka’s mystery spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who reached the feat in 20 fewer matches.

Considered one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, Akram was one of the keys to Pakistan's 1992 Cricket World Cup triumph in Australia.

He did not only take three important wickets — sending two English batters back to the pavilion for a duck — but also played a crucial knock scoring 33 off 18 deliveries with four boundaries at the strike rate of 183 in the final against England at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He was also named the Player of the Match for his heroics.

He was also the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 18 wickets to his name.