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Wasim Akram
Born:
3 June 1966, Lahore, Punjab The all-time great Yet another in the long line of Pakistan's precocious cricketers, Wasim Akram was being compared to legendary Australian left-handed quickie, Allan Davidson, even before he had played his first Test. By the time he played his 100th Test, he had established himself not only as the greatest southpaw ever, but also as one of all-time greats of the game. Brought out of the wilderness by that astute spotter of new talent, Javed Miandad, he took to the big league as easily as a fish to water. In only his second Test against New Zealand at Dunedin, the prodigy had a haul of 10 wickets, becoming the youngest bowler to achieve the signal honour. He was lightning fast then, revelling in his youth and was also quick to learn all the tricks of the trade from his mentor, Imran Khan, who was generous in imparting his knowledge to the young protege. Under the master's benign gaze, he quickly fashioned his lethal swinging yorker, deceptive variation of pace, the one moving sharply into the right-handed batsman as well as his natural away-swinger slanting across the right-hander, and employed this formidable array to telling effect. He was soon being singled out as being among the all-time greats of bowling. After 15 years of intense international cricket, both for his country and in county cricket in England, his pace may have slowed down a fraction but his penetration and ability to beat the bat almost at will remains unrivalled. And he has a glorious record to show for his efforts. Wasim Akram is the only bowler to have captured more than 400 wickets both in Test and one-day cricket. The only one to have passed 400 in the limited-overs cricket, he also has a brace of hat-tricks in both forms of the game. As captain, his greatest disappointment was in not being able to emulate the feat of Imran Khan and winning the 1999 World Cup, bowing out to Australia in the final: a case of so near, yet so far. Yet another major reverse also fell in late 1999, when with him leading the side Down Under, Pakistan was blanked out by the Aussies in the short rubber. To this greatest of left-handed bowlers the game has known, another letdown must be his inability to establish himself as a genuine all-rounder in the class of Imran. Despite flashes of brilliance, as in the '92 World Cup and in the Sheikhupura Test against Zimbabwe, when he made 257, he has not fulfilled his tremendous potential - and cricket is the loser for it. The match-fixing scandal that has haunted him for nearly half a decade is also a blot on an otherwise brilliant career.
Despite these, Akram holds his own in the pantheon of all-time greats by the sheer dint of his performances, his unmatched versatility and guile. – Career Statistics:TESTS
(including 09/01/2002) M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Batting & Fielding 104 147 19 2898 257* 22.64 3 7 44 0 O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ Bowling 3771.1 871 9779 414 23.62 7-119 25 5 54.6 2.59 ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(including 12/09/2002) M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St Batting & Fielding 343 270 51 3564 86 16.27 88.08 0 6 87 0 O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ Bowling 2926.3 231 11411 479 23.82 5-15 16 5 36.6 3.89 FIRST-CLASS
(1984/85 - 2001/02) M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Batting & Fielding 252 348 39 7106 257* 22.99 7 24 97 0 O R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ Bowling 8212 22046 1022 21.57 8-30 70 16 48.2 2.68 LIST A LIMITED OVER
(1984/85 - 2002/03; last updated 13/10/2002) M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St Batting & Fielding 570 450 90 6730 89* 18.69 0 17 145 0 O R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ Bowling 4763 18590 841 22.10 5-10 33 10 33.9 3.90 |
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