Pakistan’s former captain Aamer Sohail, in an interview with a local TV channel on Monday, made a staggering claim by accusing legendary pacer Wasim Akram as the principal force who ensured that the Men in Green did not win any World Cup after their triumphant 1992 campaign.

The opening batsman claimed that till 2003 there was a concentrated campaign to promote Akram as captain before every World Cup, while discarding the captain who had led the side up until that point.

“It’s very simple. Put the 1992 World Cup to one side and talk about the 1996 World Cup. In 1995 Ramiz Raja was captain. Saleem Malik was the captain before that, he was very successful and if he could have spent one more year as captain then Wasim Akram would not have been leading the side,” said Sohail. 

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“If you look at what happened till 2003, there was this persistence before every World Cup to remove the captain and put Wasim Akram in that role,” he claimed.

Sohail lashed out at Akram by stating that his biggest contribution to Pakistan cricket was by ensuring that 1992 was the only time the country came out victorious in a World Cup.

“Look, the biggest contribution by Wasim Akram for Pakistan cricket was making sure Pakistan does not win a World Cup after 1992. Imran Khan should be very grateful to him and he is by awarding him the presidential award. If he [Akram] was sincere with Pakistan, we would have easily won the 1996, 1999 and 2003 World Cups. All of this drama happened for a reason. This should be investigated. The culprit behind all this should be brought to the forefront,” he concluded.

The 53-year-old opener had a long and illustrious career having represented the Men in Green in 47 Tests and 156 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), scoring 2823 runs and 4780 runs, respectively.