The memories of Wasim Akram charging down the pitch like a gladiator on a battlefield will remain for ages. Clean shaven, long hair combed back, gold chain swinging around the neck and the white shiny ball firmly gripped in his left hand. As he delivers the ball, it swings in mid air, the batsman is utterly helpless and places the bat but to no avail — the ball strikes his right pad with dominating force.
As Wasim turns back and shouts an appeal, the entire Pakistani team and spectators join him and the umpire has no hesitation in lifting the finger. Wasim raises his arms and rejoices the moment with his team-mates. The spectators jump and scream and the commentator says one distinguishing phrase “…that was plumb!”
Spectacular, impressive and captivating. These three words are close enough to personify Wasim Akram’s career that was filled with the unplayable reverse and inswinging yorkers that ripped through batsman’s defences like guided missiles and shattered the stumps upon contact.
Forty-two years ago on June 3, 1966, Wasim Akram was born in Lahore with a perfect plan from fate awaiting him. On November 23, 1984, at the age of 18, Wasim made his ODI debut against New Zealand in Faisalabad.
However, the world came to know about this six feet two inch tall skinny teenager only after his Test debut against New Zealand on January 25, 1985 in Auckland. In his debut Test, Wasim made a world record by taking 10 wickets and became the youngest ever bowler to do so.
Wasim was considered a lethal competitor in international cricket. His bowling style was fairly simple; it was a low arm action but generated a lot of pace. Wasim also gained credible amount of respect amongst his peers for his two ODI hat-tricks. Many bowlers have achieved one hat-trick in their careers, but Wasim’s record of two hat-tricks both in ODIs and Tests is still unbroken.
Wasim performed his first ODI hat-trick on October 14, 1989 during the Champions Trophy against West Indies in Sharjah. Six months later, on May 4, 1990, Wasim took his record setting second ODI hat-trick against Australia during the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah. In 1999, Wasim took his two test hat-tricks and both were against Sri Lanka which came during the third and fourth Test of the 1999 Asian Test Championship.
Wasim Akram would probably never forget March 25, 1992, the day when his performance escalated to new boundaries of eminence and recognition. It was the final of the 1992 Benson and Hedges World Cup in Melbourne between Pakistan and England.
Pakistan gave England a target of 250 in 50 overs that included Wasim’s blazing innings of 33 runs off only 19 deliveries, proving that he is an all-rounder as well. When England started their innings, Wasim provided the first breakthrough by sending opener Ian Botham back to the pavilion on a duck when wicket keeper Moin Khan caught him behind the stumps.
The English batsmen were moving towards their target with ease and captain Imran Khan desperately wanted to infiltrate their middle order. Wasim was then called for his second spell when England was 141 for three. What happened next ascertained that Wasim was really the Sultan of Swing. Wasim quickly took the wicket of Allan Lamb who was replaced by Chris Lewis.
Lewis adjusted his feet in front of the stumps but Wasim produced yet another scintillating delivery which bounced, swung towards the leg side and rocked Chris Lewis’ stumps. These two back-to-back wickets by Wasim not only made way for Pakistan’s World Cup victory but also gave him the Man of the Match award in the finals.
On February 25, 2003, Wasim Akram engraved his name once more in the cricket books of history when he got his 500th one-day wicket against Netherlands during the 2003 World Cup.
Wasim also got the privilege to captain the team. His captaincy was accredited when Pakistan won the World Series in Australia in 1996-97. Wasim played 25 Tests as captain in which Pakistan won 12; lost eight and five were drawn. In ODIs, Wasim led his team in 109 matches out of which Pakistan won 66, lost 41 and two ended in a tie. Under his leadership Pakistan also gave India two Test match defeats in 1998-99.
When talking about Wasim’s bowling performance one can never forget his partner Waqar Younis. Even though both have retired, their swinging seamers are still considered to be the most destructive in cricket. The pair, known as the Two W’s and the Sultans of Swing, took more than 1,500 wickets in international cricket.
Their international appreciation had a gloomy side as well. When Pakistan defeated England 2-1 in the Cornhill Series in 1992, the English accused Wasim and Waqar for ball tampering that helped them produce those devastating reverse swing deliveries that shocked English batsmen throughout the series. The allegations weren’t proven and the English cricket establishment failed to justify these charges. Accepting Wasim and Waqar’s unique ability, Geoff Boycott and Ian Chappell went to the extent of saying that, “Wasim and Waqar will get the English batsmen out even if they use oranges.”
Batsmen around the world have acknowledged and credited Wasim Akram’s lethal bowling as the hardest they’ve faced in their careers. David Lloyd of England said “He can produce any delivery from over the wicket or around the wicket, from close to the stumps or edge of the crease. He is, in the true sense, an artist.”
Batting icon Brian Charles Lara, who is a legend in his own regard said, “Over my 15 years of playing international cricket in Tests and one-day internationals, Wasim Akram is definitely the most outstanding bowler I’ve ever faced.”
On May 18, 2003, the best left-arm fast bowler announced his retirement from international cricket. Wasim commented on his decision by saying “There’s an end to everything in life… I have enjoyed every bit of it.… There are no regrets. There have been ups and downs but I would not have changed it for anything else.”
He took 502 ODI wickets in 356 matches and 414 Test wickets in 104 matches. In ODIs his wicket break-up is: 92 lbws, three hit-wickets, 137 catches, 94 caught behinds and 176 bowleds. His Test wicket consists of 193 catches, 119 lbws and 102 bowleds.
His economy rate speaks for itself as he maintained a reasonable 2.59 in Tests and 3.89 in ODIs and retired with an average of 23.62 in Tests and 23.52 in ODIs. In Tests he took four wickets in a match 20 times, five wickets 25 times and 10 wickets five times.
In ODIs he took four wickets 17 times and five wickets six times. In 1992 Wasim was named Wisden cricketer of the year and in 2002 Wisden carried out a statistical analysis and ranked Wasim Akram the number one ODI fast bowler of all time.
The world of cricket has seen fast bowlers with the likes of Imran Khan, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Botham, Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee, Shaun Pollock, Alan Davidson, Waqar Younis, Courtney Walsh, Alan Donald, Kapil Dev, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. But Wasim Akram was the master of his own caste who perfected the art of inswinging yorkers, and he will always be the original Sultan of Swing.
