Wasim Akram (cricketer)

Hello friends today's post is about Wasim Akram. Who is a Pakistani cricketer. Here are some basic information about Wasim Akram.

Wasim Akram 

Wasim Akram is a former Pakistani cricketer, cricket commentator and television personality. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest bowlers of all time.He has one of those rare talents, who never played first-class cricket, before making his international debut. In fact, he could not even get into the college team. Born in a Punjabi Arain family in Lahore, Wasim Akram's magical moment came when he participated in the trials conducted at the Gaddafi Stadium. Interestingly, he was a mere spectator for the first two days and finally, got a chance to roll his arms over on the third day. Straightaway, he impressed Pakistan's senior cricket Javed Miandad, who then pressed for Akram's inclusion immediately into the national team. That was the opening the legend needed. From a bloke who was not even part of competitive cricket, Akram went on to become 'The King of Swing.' In fact, shockingly, Akram himself admitted that he did not know how to swing the ball during his early days.

Career

Early Carrer

Wasim Akram was born on 3 June 1966 in Lahore.He was educated at Government Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore, where he played as an opening bowler and batsman. Akram's father, Chaudhary Muhammed Akram was originally from a village near Amritsar in east Punjab, India who moved to Pakistan after partition. Akram loves watching Indian movies and considers Amitabh Bachchan as his favorite actor. Not learnt dancing: Wasim- oneindia.At the age of 30, Akram was diagnosed with diabetes. "I remember what a shock it was because I was a healthy sportsman with no history of diabetes in my family, so I didn't expect it at all. It seemed strange that it happened to me when I was 30, but it was a very stressful time and doctors said that can trigger it.Since then he has actively sought to be involved in various awareness campaigns for diabetes. Akram married Huma Mufti in 1995. They have two sons Tahmoor (born 1996) and Akbar (born 2000) from their marriage of fifteen years. Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India on 25 October 2009. Akram's wife dies- espncricinfo.

International Career

In 1988 Akram signed for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England. From 1988 to 1998, he opened their bowling attack in their ECB Trophy, Benson and Hedges Cup and National League tournaments. He was a favourite of the local British fans who used to sing a song called "Wasim for England" at Lancashire's matches. In 1998, with Akram as captain, Lancashire won the ECB Trophy and Axa League and finished second in the championship tournament despite losing only five matches in all competitions throughout the season. "County Championship- brink of history".

Test Career

Akram made his Test cricket debut for Pakistan against New Zealand in 1985 and in his second Test match, he claimed 10 wickets.A few weeks prior to his selection into the Pakistan team, he was an unknown club cricketer who had failed to make it even to his college team. He came to the trials at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in Pakistan, but for the first two days he did not get a chance to bowl. On the third day he got a chance; his performance convincing Javed Miandad to insist upon his inclusion in the national team. Akram was hence given an opportunity to play for Pakistan, without any significant domestic experience. Akram's rise in international cricket was rapid during the late 1980s. He was a part of the Pakistan team that toured the West Indies in 1988. However, a groin injury impeded his career in the late 1980s. Following two surgeries, he re-emerged in the 1990s as a fast bowler who focused more on swing and accurate bowling.

One Day International

1992-97

Akram was a significant figure in the 1992 Cricket World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, when Pakistan won the tournament. In the final, against England, his innings of 33 runs off 19 balls pushed Pakistan to a score of 249 runs for 6 wickets. Akram then took the wicket of Ian Botham early on the English batting innings and when brought back into the bowling attack later on, with the ball reverse swinging, he produced a spell of bowling which led to Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis being bowled in successive deliveries in one over. His performances earned him the Man of the Match award for the final. In 1993 Akram took 2 consecutive 4-wicket hauls against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in which 7 out of 8 wickets were either LBW or bowled.

1983-91

In the 1987 Cricket World Cup held for the 1st time in South Asia, Akram struggled on Pakistani pitches where he managed only 7 wickets with an average of over 40 in 7 matches. Akram played West Indies, Sri Lanka and England twice. All group matches were played in Pakistan.In the 1988–89 Benson and Hedges World Series he managed figures of 4-25 against Australia. He took his hundredth wicket at Sharjah in 1989-1990 Champions Trophy  2nd Match against West Indies. His 100th wicket was of Ambrose. In that match he took a five-wickets haul for the second time in his career. In the same match he took his first hat-trick against West Indies. All three batsman were bowled. On 4 May 1990 in Sharjah, Akram took his second ODI hat-trick against |Australia. All three batsmen were bowled this time also.Up to December 1991 Akram took 143 wickets in 107 matches with an average of almost 24 and economy rate of 3.84.

World Cup

1998 to the 2003

In 1999, he led Pakistan to the brink of victory in the World Cup before they capitulated and was defeated by Australia in the final, by eight wickets with almost 30 overs to spare.This was the start of the match fixing controversies, as critics believed Akram had set up the match for Australia. However, none of the allegations could be proved.Despite the outbreak of war in the region, the tournament, which also involves Sri Lanka and South Africa other than Pakistan, was still on, according to latest reports available to the PCB.Though anticipated that some of the seniors would not be called for national duty, when chief selector Aamer Sohail announced the squad, eight out of the 15 that went to South Africa stood dropped. Though Abdur Razzaq and Saleem Elahi managed to survive, but only just and, as Sohail divulged, that too because of the intervention of skipper Latif.He was Pakistan's best bowler in the 2003 Cricket World Cup taking 12 wickets in 6 matches. However, Pakistan failed to reach the super six of the tournament and Akram was one of the eight players to be sacked by the Pakistan Cricket Board as a result.

Records

Akram won 17 Man-of-the-Match awards in 104 tests. He took 4 hat-tricks in International cricket  two in ODIs. and two in Tests, He finished with 22 Man-of-the-Match awards in ODIs. In 199 ODI match wins, he took 326 wickets at under 19 apiece with a run rate of 3.70 and took 18 four-wicket hauls. His 257 not-out against Zimbabwe in 1996 is the highest innings by a number 8 batsman in tests. He hit 12 sixes in that, most by anyone in a test innings.

Coaching Career

Akram was appointed the bowling coach consultant of Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League team for Kolkata. Sourav Ganguly was always keen to have Akram as the bowling coach for India, during the former's stint as Indian captain. Although this never happened, his dreams were realised to some extent, when Akram was appointed as the bowling coach cum mentor for the franchise. 3rd edition: Wasim Akram Akram has thus been playing a vital role in the grooming of Indian pacers like Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, who owe their success in international cricket a lot to the bowling legend.

As a Commentarian

Since retiring from cricket, Akram has worked and taken up commentary for television networks and can currently be seen as a sports commentator for ESPN Star Sports and ARY Digital among others. He did commentary on a variety of sporting tournaments including the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup in Australia, the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England, the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa, and the 2011 ICC World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

President Of Karachi Kings

The Pakistan Super League is around the corner and everyone is eagerly waiting for all the changes happening in the fourth edition. The former captain and the fastest bowler of his time Wasim Akram has confessed on Wednesday 14th November 2018 that he is the new president of the PSL team Karachi Kings. Previously another fastest bowler Shahid Afridi was the president but he resigned from the president ship. Final player draft for PSL 4 will be revealed on November 20 in Islamabad whereas the tournament is scheduled to start from February 14 in UAE.