Pak cricketer Akram's wifes untimely death

Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has expressed grief over the sudden death of his former teammate Waseem Akram’s wife, Huma Waseem.

Talking to media persons at Akram’s residence here, Haq said he would pray for the departed soul and to give courage to the grief stricken family members in this moment of sorrow.

Huma, 42, breathed her last at a private hospital in Chennai on Sunday.

She was admitted to the Apollo Hospital last Tuesday after her condition deteriorated on board an air ambulance flying from Lahore to Singapore, where she was due to be treated for multiple organ failure.

She was put on a ventilator immediately after being admitted to the hospital, but her condition remained critical.

Huma was being treated for ‘fever of unknown origin’. She also suffered from multi-system organ failure, hospital sources said. She was under critical care as her blood pressure dropped considerably and her vital parameters like heart and pulse rate did not stabilise.

Huma is survived by two children, Taimur and Akbar.

A trained medical practitioner herself, she had stints with some of the leading hospitals in Pakistan as a psychologist and a hypnotherapist.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt has also expressed grief over her demise.

 “We are with Wasim and his family at this hour of need and pray to God to give them strength to bear this irreparable loss,” The News quoted Butt, as saying.

Huma’s last rights would be performed today (Monday) in Lahore.

Younis to meet Butt next week

Younis Khan, the Pakistan captain, will meet the national board chairman Ijaz Butt next week to discuss his fitness and availability for the one-dayers against New Zealand in Dubai in November.

Younis had fractured a finger just before the ICC Champions Trophy in September, and missed the first game against West Indies before captaining Pakistan for rest of the campaign despite not fully recovering from the fracture.

"Younis knows best about his injury," Wasim Bari, the PCB chief operating officer, told Pakistan's News. "He would be meeting us next week after which it will be decided whether he would be playing in the series against New Zealand."

Shahid Afridi will lead the team in the Twenty20s, a format from which Younis had retired. There were media reports suggesting Afridi will take over in the ODIs against New Zealand, but Afridi denied he had been offered the captaincy. "There is no truth in such reports," he said. "I had a meeting with the PCB chairman in which a number of issues were discussed but captaincy wasn't one of them."

Afridi also said he expected Younis to be fully fit in time for the New Zealand series. "I'm expecting Younis to get fit in the next two weeks," he said. "It would be great for us because he is really a good captain and we enjoy playing under him."