The legendary Viv Richards remains an enigma to this date. Arguably the greatest clean-striker of the ball, it still is a fragment of people’s imagination that had he been an active cricketer today, what all would he have not accomplished.
Richards was the type of batter people wished had played T20, for he would have quite easily broken the record for the most expensive player sold in an IPL auction.
Richards’ flamboyant batting, couple with that swagger of a walk, casually dismantling the opposition bowling attack while chewing gum is a sight many a bowler wished they could forget.
Richards played in an era where most of the scary fast bowlers were his teammates, but there were still a few quicks around who could rough up a few feathers. For Richards, the fastest bowler he ever took guard to was Jeff Thomson. However, it wasn’t the Aussie quick whom Richards remembers for bowling to him the fastest ball ever faced. That distinction Richards reserved for a then-young and promising left-arm pacer from Pakistan named Wasim Akram.
“One of the quickest deliveries I have ever, ever encountered, and I believe there was someone upstairs looking after me. I had some hair left then, somewhat of a mini-Afro and this one went by so quickly, I could hear it hitting the wicketkeeper’s gloves and I said, ‘Wow, wow.’ Wasim was a young man, coming on to the scene, and I was heading towards the exit door so I was glad that while he was coming then, I was going,” Richards told ESPNCricinfo.
The same year, when Pakistan travelled to the West Indies, legend has it that during the Barbados Test, Richards called out Akram for the left-arm pacer’s excessive sledging. This information was confirmed by Akram himself, who admitted that he feared for his life upon seeing a shirtless Richards standing with a bat in hand. And while cooler heads prevailed, Richards knew back then itself that here was a star in the making.
“I can remember also that I did say to the individuals, the batsmen in the West Indies team at the time, I said, ‘Hey man, good luck to you guys, having to encounter that guy on a regular basis man.’ Wasim, he was very, very special. Up to this day, I still see that particular delivery. I have nightmares about it every now and again,” the former West Indies captain mentioned.