SLC will hope the former left-arm pace great can inspire Sri Lanka to lift the trophy in the West Indies in June (matches will also be held in the USA). Akram, who scored 3,717 runs and claimed 502 wickets in 356 ODIs, will conduct five sessions across two days with the Sri Lankans. SLC has organised coaching sessions for their pace academy students as well. Coaches have been invited too, so that when Akram, 57, speaks to the boys, the coaches can also learn.

Roping in star cricketers to help their team in international cricket started when Sir Garfield Sobers was brought in to guide the Sri Lankans for their inaugural Test against England in 1982 and beyond. Sobers had then insisted on the inclusion of teenager Arjuna Ranatunga. The rest, as they say, is history.