Wasim Akram opens up about his rehab experience in Pakistan

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram revealed his cocaine addiction in his autobiography, Sultan A Memoir.

The former left-arm seamer has been promoting his book, and in a recent interview with the Grade Cricketers' Podcast, Akram revealed that he was forced to stay in a rehabilitation center in Pakistan for two and a half months. He also stated that keeping someone against their will is "illegal in the world, but not in Pakistan."

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Akram explained how he eventually became addicted to cocaine: "In England, somebody at a party said 'you wanna try it?' I was retired, I said 'yeah'. Then one line became a gram. I came back to Pakistan. Nobody knew what it was but it was available. I realised, I couldn't function without it, which means I couldn't socialise without it. It got worse and worse. My kids were young. I was hurting my late wife a lot. We would have arguments. She said I need help."

"She said there's a rehab, you can go there. I said alright I will go there for a month but they kept me there for two and a half months against my will. Apparently, that is illegal in the world but not in Pakistan. That didn't help me. When I came out, a rebellion came into me. It's my money, I stayed in that horrible place against my will," he stated further.

Further talking about his rehab experience, Akram said: "In western movies, even in Australia you see rehabs have lovely big lawns, people give lectures, you go to gym. But I went to a place (in Pakistan) with a corridor and eight rooms, that's it. It was very very tough. It was a horrible time."

"Then a tragedy happened, my wife passed away. I knew I was on the wrong path, I wanted to get out of it. I had two young boys. In Western culture, a dad is involved fifty-fifty (with the mother). You wake up in the morning, drop your child to the school, pick them up, and change clothes. In our culture, as a dad, we never do that. It's the wife's turn. Our job is to go out and raise funds. I was lost for two years. I never knew where I had to buy clothes for them.

"I didn't know what they ate, I had to go to every class, and attend parent-teacher meetings. I had to be friendly with their friends' parents. But I must say, every parent around my kids helped a lot," he stated further.

Akram played in 104 Tests for Pakistan, taking 414 wickets, the most for a Pakistani bowler. He also took 502 wickets in 356 One-Day Internationals.