Huma, the wife of former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram,
has 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.