When Wasim Akram cried at Indian airport without visa: Pakistan cricketer recalls his wife's death

Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram went down memory lane as he remembered an incident that he "will never forget as a human being".

He recalled the incident where Chennai authorities allowed him to take his wife to the hospital despite not having a visa.

In an interview, the Sultan of Swing spoke about his wife Huma Akram, who passed away in Chennai in October, had developed heart and kidney complications due to which he was taking her to Singapore. His flight landed in Chennai for refuelling while she was unconscious.

"I was flying to Singapore with my late wife and there was a stopover in Chennai for refuelling. When we landed, she was unconscious, I was crying and people recognised me at the airport. We didn't have an Indian visa. We both had Pakistani passports," Sportstar magazine quoted Akram as saying during a discussion on his autobiography 'Sultan: A Memoir'.

She was rushed to the hospital after she suffered a heart attack when the air ambulance on which she was being flown to Singapore from Lahore landed at Chennai airport, as per a report.

"The people at the Chennai airport, the security staff, and the customs and immigration officials told me not to worry about the visa and take my wife to the hospital while they sorted the visa out. That is something I will never forget, as a cricketer and as a human being," he added.

Huma Akram, a hypnotherapist, passed away in 2009 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Pakistan cricket legend spoke about the historic 1999 Chennai Test against India. "The Chennai Test is very special to me... It was very hot and the pitch was bare, which suited us because we relied on reverse-swing. We also had one of the best spinners at the time in Saqlain Mushtaq. Nobody could pick the doosra delivery that he had invented at the time.

"Sachin [Tendulkar] played him well after the first innings. Every time he bowled the doosra, Sachin went for the lap shot just behind the 'keeper. A very odd shot to play against the off-spinners doosra but he mastered it and that's why Sachin was one of the greatest of all time," the cricketer, who bagged 926 wickets in 460 matches across formats, said.