Akram Embarrassed at Manchester Airport: Wasim Akram is widely regarded as greatest left arm pacer the world has ever produced. The lanky pacer made his debut in 1984 and rewrote the bowling history in the next 19 years before calling it quits in 2003.
During the period, he played over 100 tests and 350 ODI’s, and became the first bowler to pick 500 wickets in ODI history. When Wasim was at the peak of his game, he was diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of 29. Since then, he played majority of the matches taking insulin injections before, and between matches.
He even mentions how the disease affected him mentally and how he changed his lifestyle to stay fit and prolong his career. However, Wasim Akram shared a tweet highlighting how he felt humiliated and ill-treated for his insulin carry bag.
He was stopped at the Manchester airport and security made him take out insulin from his carry bag and dumped it into a plastic bag.
Akram tweeted “Very disheartened at Manchester airport today, I travel around the world with my insulin but never have I been made to feel embarrassed. I felt very humiliated as I was rudely questioned & ordered publicly to take my insulin out of its travel cold-case & dumped into a plastic bag”
Very disheartened at Manchester airport today,I travel around the world with my insulin but never have I been made to feel embarrassed.I felt very humiliated as I was rudely questioned & ordered publicly to take my insulin out of its travel cold-case & dumped in to a plastic bag pic.twitter.com/UgW6z1rkkF
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) July 23, 2019
Wasim Akram then later also cleared that he did not wish or expect partial or different behavior, but just normal human compassion, especially with someone suffering:
I do not believe I should have been treated differently from anyone else. I just believe there should be a standard of care when dealing with all people. I understand there are proper safety precautions but that doesn’t mean people should be humiliated whilst undergoing them.
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) July 23, 2019
Wasim Akram was a part of the Commentary team for the World Cup and was in the UK for some days.
Discussing about Diabetes with a digital platform, he said “I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997. I was only 29 years old. I thought my life was gone — no more cricket. But, my wife gave me mental strength. It’s just mental discipline. Temptations are there. I feel like having biryani every night — naans and kulchas, and niharis. But I avoid it.”
Mentioning about his training regime, and the disciplined diet he has to follow with regular insulin check-up, he stated “Before lunch, I eat a bowl of stir-fried vegetables so my stomach is more or less full. And then I’ll have a little of whatever else is there. So that’s the sort of technique I’ve used to train myself,”
