In a nutshellPerhaps the best left-arm fast bowler of all time, Wasim Akram could make the ball walk and talk like no one else did. An explosive, exciting genius who could change the game with the bat as well.
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
104
147
19
2898
257*
22.64
3
7
57
44
0
ODIs
356
280
55
3717
86
16.52
4208
88.33
0
6
88
0
First-class
257
355
40
7161
257*
22.73
7
24
97
0
List A
594
467
97
6993
89*
18.90
0
17
147
0
Twenty20
5
5
1
55
24
13.75
45
122.22
0
0
6
1
0
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
104
181
22627
9779
414
7/119
11/110
23.62
2.59
54.6
20
25
5
ODIs
356
351
18186
11812
502
5/15
5/15
23.52
3.89
36.2
17
6
0
First-class
257
50277
22549
1042
8/30
21.64
2.69
48.2
70
16
List A
594
29719
19303
881
5/10
5/10
21.91
3.89
33.7
34
12
0
Twenty20
5
5
114
121
8
2/19
2/19
15.12
6.36
14.2
0
0
0
Career statistics
First-class span
1984-2003
List A span
1984-2003
Twenty20 debut
Hampshire v Sussex at Southampton, Jun 13, 2003
Last Twenty20
Hampshire v Surrey at Southampton, Jun 24, 2003
Profile
A dream cricketer. At his best Wasim Akram plays like most of us would wish to. He has complete mastery over swing and seam, and sometimes moves the ball both ways in one delivery. All this comes at high speed from a quick, ball-concealing action, and is backed up by the threat of a dangerous bouncer or deceptive slower delivery. Akram is rated by many as the best left-arm fast bowler of all time, and his career record certainly bears that out - along with the high regard of his contemporaries. He hit like a kicking horse, but batsmanship was one skill in which Akram underachieved, despite a monumental 257 against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996-97. He was the natural successor to Imran Khan as Pakistan's leader and captain, but the match-fixing controversies of the 1990s harmed him, blunting his edge and dimming his lustre. Though he reached the 500-wicket landmark in ODIs in the 2003 World Cup, he was among the eight players dumped after Pakistan's miserable performance. He retired shortly after, following a brief spell with Hampshire.
