Pakistan pace legends Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. (Photo: Waqar Younis/Instagram)

Genuine pace is becoming a rare commodity in cricket these days. What’s even more puzzling is that bowlers who break into international cricket with searing pace get slower within years, contrary to pacers like Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram, who went decades bowling at roughly the same speed. Pakistan pace legend Waqar Younis has an explanation for what has changed in modern-day cricket that has caused this ‘pace drain’.

“Don’t forget that cricket itself has changed. When we used to play, cricket was different. Test cricket was given the highest preference, followed by One Day cricket. One Day cricket was there in our times but T20 didn’t exist.…