Wasim Akram

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Lore & Background

Wasim Akram was born on 3 June 1966 to a Punjabi family in Lahore. His father, Chaudhary Muhammad Akram Arain, was originally from a village near Amritsar and the family moved to Pakistani Punjab after the partition of India in 1947. Akram completed his early education in Lahore from Government Islamia College, Civil Lines, Lahore. He started his career as a tape ball cricketer and later joined Ludhiana Gymkhana with the help of his friend, Khalid Mahmood. His first class cricket debut was for BCCP Patron's Eleven against New Zealand cricket team. At age 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 sought to be involved in various awareness campaigns for diabetes. Akram married Huma Mufti in 1995. They had two sons from their marriage of 14 years: Tahmoor and Akbar. Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India, on 25 October 2009. On 12 August 2013, Akram married Shaniera Thompson, whom he had met while on a visit to Melbourne in 2011. He was quoted as saying, 'I married Shaniera in Lahore in a simple ceremony, and this is the start of a new life for me, my wife, and for my kids.' On 27 December 2014, Shaniera gave birth to a baby girl, Aiyla Sabeen Rose Akram, in Melbourne. He moved from Lahore to Karachi with his wife and children.

Reader's Guide

Wasim Akram's significance in cricket lies in his revolutionary mastery of reverse swing bowling, a skill he helped pioneer and perfect. His international career began with his Test debut against New Zealand in 1985, and in his second Test match he claimed 10 wickets. He rose to prominence in ODIs by taking five wickets in his 3rd ODI against Australia in the 1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship. Akram was a significant figure in the 1992 Cricket World Cup when Pakistan won the tournament; in the final against England, his innings of 33 runs off 19 balls pushed Pakistan to 249 for 6, and he then took the wicket of Ian Botham early and later produced a spell of reverse-swing bowling that bowled Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in successive deliveries, earning him Man of the Match. As captain, he led Pakistan to the finals of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, where they lost to Australia by 8 wickets. He holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket (881) and is second only to Muttiah Muralitharan in ODI wickets (502). In Test cricket, he is Pakistan's highest wicket-taker with 414 wickets. In 2002, Wisden ranked him as the best ODI bowler of all time, with a rating of 1223.5. He was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on 30 September 2009. The Government of Pakistan awarded him the Hilal-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2019 for his lifetime achievements in cricket. His coaching roles have included bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, director and bowling coach of Islamabad United, and he joined Multan Sultans in August 2017. In October 2018, he was named in the Pakistan Cricket Board's seven-member advisory cricket committee, and in November 2018, he joined PSL franchisee Karachi Kings as president.

Did You Know?

• Wasim Akram was the first bowler to reach the 500-wicket mark in ODI cricket, doing so during the 2003 World Cup.
• He holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket, with 881.
• In 2002, Wisden ranked Akram as the best ODI bowler of all time, with a rating of 1223.5.
• Akram took two ODI hat-tricks: one against West Indies on 4 May 1990 and another against Australia on 4 May 1990, both in Sharjah.
• He was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan on 23 March 2019 for his lifetime achievements in cricket.