Legendary cricketer Wasim Akram, widely considered the best left-arm bowler to grace the cricket field, has opened up about his struggles with cocaine addiction after his playing career ended in an upcoming autobiography Sultan: A Memoir.

Akram, currently a successful commentator, is Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker in both Test and ODI cricket. He bade farewell to the game in 2003 after an 18-year international career. He has since been involved in coaching and commentary.

In excerpts from his book, which were published alongside an interview by English publication The Times, the left-armer reveals that he developed the cocaine habit after his retirement as he craved a “substitute for the adrenaline rush of competition”.

He said he kicked the habit after the death of his first wife Huma in 2009.

“I liked to indulge myself; I liked to party,” he writes in the book. “The culture of fame in south Asia is all consuming, seductive and corrupting. You can go to ten parties a night, and some do. And it took its toll on me. My devices turned into vices.

“Worst of all, I developed a dependence on cocaine. It started innocuously enough when I was offered a line at a party in England; my use grew steadily more serious, to the point that I felt I needed it to function.

“It made me volatile. It made me deceptive. Huma, I know, was often lonely in this time… she would talk of her desire to move to Karachi, to be nearer her parents and siblings. I was reluctant. Why? Partly because I liked going to Karachi on my own, pretending it was work when it was actually about partying, often for days at a time.

“Huma eventually found me out, discovering a packet of cocaine in my wallet… ‘You need help.’ I agreed. It was getting out of hand. I couldn’t control it. One line would become two, two would become four; four would become a gram, a gram would become two. I could not sleep. I could not eat. I grew inattentive to my diabetes, which caused me headaches and mood swings. Like a lot of addicts, part of me welcomed discovery: the secrecy had been exhausting.”