Wasim Akram Predicts Pakistan's 3-0 Loss to England
Wasim Akram saw it coming long before the first ball was bowled in England.
Sitting thousands of miles away, the former Pakistan captain had already made his call on this tour. Not a brave prediction, he insists. Just basic logic.
“I knew before the series we were going to lose 3-0 to England,” Akram told The Athletic. “Our batting is struggling, our bowling is below average and our fielding is worse. It’s not rocket science.”
With Pakistan already 0-2 down heading into the third and final Test on Wednesday, his words now feel less like criticism and more like confirmation.
A great of England tours, baffled by the present
Akram is not just another ex-player sounding off from the sidelines. He helped script some of Pakistan’s finest days in England. The left-arm great was a central figure in the sides that won three straight Test series there, in 1987, 1992 and 1996, captaining Pakistan in the last of those triumphs.
He knows what a hardened, streetwise touring team looks like. This, in his view, is not it.
Pakistan have barely laid a glove on England in the first two Tests. The batting has folded under pressure, the bowling has lacked bite, and the fielding has bled runs and chances. For Akram, those are symptoms of a deeper illness, not isolated failures.
Shockwaves from PCB upheaval
If the cricket has been poor, the reaction from the Pakistan Cricket Board has been seismic.
After the second Test, the PCB sent seven players from the touring squad back home and sacked head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed along with his entire support staff. Mid-series. Mid-crisis.
The moves stunned the wider cricket world, and even a hardened observer like Akram admits he feels for the players caught in the storm. But he does not spare them entirely.
“In Pakistan we have a saying: ‘You can only clap with two hands’,” he said, pointing to a shared responsibility between the dressing room and those running the game.
He gets asked constantly if he can “fix” Pakistan cricket. His answer is blunt: the problems run far beyond a single voice, or a single series.
“These are the top players, there’s nothing else there,” Akram said. The talent pool beneath them, he argues, has been drained by years of muddled thinking. “The systems aren’t there below that. The first-class structure domestically has been all over the place the last few years and there’s no consistency, no patience.”
That chaos, he believes, infects everything. Even the mood in the stands.
“It dribbles down to the fans, too. They see the team lose and they want to rip it all up, too. We’ve done that so many times and now there is nothing really left.”
It is a brutal assessment from a man who has worn the star on his chest with distinction. But it reflects a cycle Pakistan cricket knows too well: defeat, outrage, sackings, reset, repeat.
Akram’s plea over Imran Khan
Away from the scorecards and selection calls, Akram’s voice grows softer when the subject turns to Imran Khan.
Captain, mentor, political lightning rod. Above all, to Akram, a friend.
He revealed he has not spoken to Imran for three years but made clear his unease about the former prime minister’s health as he remains in jail.
"I haven't spoken to him for three years. It's so unfortunate, politically, what's happening with him. The court of law is the court of law. But as far as his health is concerned, there can be no compromise on that," Akram said.
He acknowledged there is a movement in England and other countries to improve Imran’s conditions. Inside Pakistan, he is far less certain.
"There's a movement in England and elsewhere (to improve Imran's conditions) but here (in Pakistan)? I'm not so sure," he said. "I'm speaking from the heart as someone who is worried about him as a person. Convicted or not convicted. Jail or no jail. We need to safeguard his health. We don't know what's happening, the government are saying his health apparently is fine. But I'm worried. I miss him a lot."
It is a rare glimpse of vulnerability from one of Pakistan’s toughest competitors. On the field, Akram built a career on exposing weaknesses. Off it, he now watches a national team and a national icon both under strain, both trapped in battles that feel bigger than any series scoreline.
England can still complete the 3-0 sweep he predicted. The real question is whether Pakistan, on and off the field, are ready to confront why he found that prediction so easy to make.
