Wasim Akram recalls an unheard Shah Rukh Khan story

During his KKR tenure, he came across a wonderful moment that showed the care, love and admiration of SRK for his players.

Wasim Akram recently recalled a wonderful moment that showed Shah Rukh Khan’s love, care and admiration for his players in Kolkata Knight Riders. Akram recalled an incident that happened during his tenure with KKR.

Wasim Akram recalls an unheard story of Shah Rukh Khan.

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, after overcoming his struggle with drug addiction, landed a job in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as the bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders. He spent six seasons with the team between 2010 and 2016. During his tenure with the franchise, he came across a wonderful moment with the co-owner of KKR, Shah Rukh Khan, who showed the actor’s love, care, and admiration for his team’s players.

Wasim Akram had made a request to Shah Rukh Khan.

In an interview with VU Sports, as quoted by the Indian Express, Akram recalled an incident from the 2012 IPL season, where he had made a request to Shah Rukh Khan regarding how the players would get tired as they would be reaching the venue on the eve of the game. Akram was concerned about the players’ exhaustion, which might impact the game’s results. But, the superstar of Bollywood assured him not to worry and then arranged a Boeing within an hour for the entire team. He said, “I think this happened during the 2012 IPL season. Our knockout match was in Kolkata, and I remember we were going to arrive via, via some place. Shah Rukh Khan was there, so I asked him, ‘Khan saab, ek request hai (Mr Khan, I have a request)’. I said, ‘Ladke bade thak jayenge, hum kal pahunchenge, parso match hai. Toh agar ek private plane (The team will get extremely tired. We’ll reach tomorrow, and the match is the day after. If a private plane could be arranged)…’ He said, ‘Thak jayenge ladke? Koi problem nahi (They’ll get tired, you say, no problem)’. Within one hour, pura Boeing jahaaz khada tha for the whole team.”

Later in his autobiography, Akram revealed how he landed a job with KKR in IPL after spending his days in a drug rehabilitation centre in Lahore under “brutal” conditions.