Akram's wife dies at the age of 42

Huma Akram, the wife of former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, died on Sunday after developing heart and kidney complications. She was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Chennai last Tuesday after her condition deteriorated on board an air ambulance flying from Lahore to Singapore, where she was due to be treated at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital. She breathed her last around 9:45am, hospital sources informed.

Huma, 42, is survived by two children, Taimur and Akbar, and arrangements are underway to fly her body back to Pakistan. A trained medical practitioner herself, she had stints with some of the leading hospitals in Pakistan as a psychologist and a hypnotherapist.

In the mid-1990s, during her husband's second stint as captain, Huma also worked with the Pakistan team for a while as a psychological counsellor, helping players such as Saqlain Mushtaq. Wasim also regularly credited her for helping him mentally, especially in the aftermath of the players revolt against his captaincy in 1993-94.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, also expressed his grief over the demise. "We are with Wasim and his family at this hour of need and pray to God to give them strength to bear this great and irreparable loss," he said. "All the management of PCB and fellow cricketers have also extended their condolences and prayed eternal peace for the departed soul."

Wasim, 43, played 104 Tests and 356 ODIs during his 17-year career, before retiring in 2002 with 414 and 502 wickets in the respective formats.