Sultan of Swing Wasim Akram completes half-century in life

LAHORE: (Web Desk) - Wasim Akram, one of the greatest cricketers and best bowlers to have ever played the game, completed the half-century of his life on June 3.

Born on 3 June 1966, Akram was just 18-year-old at the time of his debut and had not played much of the domestic cricket, as he had failed to represent his college. But he caught the eye of Javed Miandad in trails and made his way into the team. Akram made his Test debut against New Zealand in 1985 and took just two matches to get his first 5-wicket haul in an innings and 10-wicket haul in a match.

The left-armer took five wickets in his third One-Day International (ODI) against Australia in Australia, which included wickets of all-time greats like Allan Border and Dean Jones.

In 1990, Akram took first hat-trick of his career against West Indies. It was a perfect hat-trick as all three batsmen were bowled out. He took five wickets in that match and reached 100 wickets in the ODI career. Akram took two hat-tricks in ODI career and two hat-tricks in Test career, being the only player to take four hat-tricks in international cricket.

Akram was star of Pakistan in 1992 World Cup as he was the highest wicket taker in the tournament with 18 wickets in 10 matches. In the final, England’s fifth-wicket partnership would have taken the match away from Pakistan but Akram’s back-to-back magical deliveries to dismiss Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis rocked England. Those two deliveries are regarded as game-changer and among the best deliveries in history of ODI cricket. He was Man of the Match of final.

In 1999 World Cup, Wasim Akram led Pakistan to final as they defeated West Indies, Australia and New Zealand in group stage and then New Zealand in semi-final. Although Pakistan lost the final but it was only the second time Pakistan had reached final of the mega event.

In January 2000, Wasim Akram became first ever bowler to take 400 ODI wickets. He achieved the feat by dismissing Australia’s Damien Martyn in Australia. Nobody else had more than 300 wickets in ODI Cricket at that moment. Later that year, Wasim reached 400 Test wickets, becoming first bowler to take 400 wickets in both formats of the game. Wasim was only the fourth bowler to take 400 wickets in Test cricket at that time. He was also the first to reach 900 International wickets and 500 ODI wickets, which he did against Namibia in 2003 World Cup, his last tournament.

Wasim Akram finished his career with 502 ODI wickets and 414 test wickets in his career. In Test cricket, he took 5 wickets in an innings 25 times and 10 wickets in a match 5 times. In ODI cricket, he took 4 wickets 17 times and 5 wickets 6 times in a match.

Even with his bat, Wasim Akram was very destructive although he batted way down in the order. He still holds the record for hitting most sixes in a test innings, as he hit 12 sixes and scored 257 runs against Zimbabwe. That is also the record for most runs by a No.8 batsman in Test cricket.

Wasim Akram also had success as bowling coach as he helped Kolkata Knight Riders win Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2012 and 2014. He was Director of Islamabad United in Pakistan Super League (PSL) and helped them win the first edition.