Cricket: Wasim Akram’s legacy, 400 wickets in Tests and ODIs
Wasim Akram is one of the greatest cricketers in the world. Akram was a fast left-handed bowler. He had absolute control over his bowling. He could swing the ball any way he liked. There were deliveries where he made the ball swing both ways in one delivery. Famous for his toe crushing yorkers and reverse swing, Wasim had all the tricks of the trade. His over was a treat to watch with a wide variety of deliveries.
Akram’s record speaks volume of his performance. The legendary bowler is very highly regarded in the cricketing world. Some of the greatest batsmen of all times treated him with respect on the field.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833, Pakistan. Akram was playing for a local cricket club in 1980’s when his talent was spotted by national team selectors. Interestingly at that time there was no quality domestic cricket structure in Pakistan and Wasim was picked by a talent hunt team. So he completely bypassed the domestic structure and was directly selected for the national team.
This master of fast bowling was completely unknown to the cricketing world before his national appearance. Akram walked in for trials in Gaddafi stadium but didn’t get a chance to bowl for the first two days. Wasim eventually got a chance to bowl on the third day of trials and was picked by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580 for his quick deliveries.
Wasim made his test debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-c64193 Khan for turning a raw Wasim into a magician with the ball. Wasim was lucky to get experience and insights of the game from the cricketing legend Imran Khan.
Wasim caught the eye of the international world when he was bowling in the 1987 Cricket World Cup. Pakistan played http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in this tournament and late in the innings Akram bowled to Sir Viv Richards, who is regarded world’s best batsman. Viv was clearly seen struggling against Akram’s swing, which created headlines about his fast swing bowling.
Wasim rose to stardom for his performance in the 1992 World Cup, where has was seen as world’s fastest and most accurate bowler. He earned man of the match award for his devastating bowling in the final. He took successive wickets of Allan Lamb and Chris http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 to post a decent score in World Cup final.
Akram also had the honour of captaining his national side. He saw some high and low points during his captaincy. His remarkable achievement was in 1999 World Cup when Pakistan reached the final but Pakistan was thrashed by an eight wicket defeat with 30 over’s in hand by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. This was start of his controversial role in match fixing. Critics were of the point of view that Akram had fixed the match in favour of Australia however no allegation was proved.
Akram retired from cricket in 2003 as the world’s greatest bowler with many records to his credit. Wasim held the record of most wickets in ODI’s, which was recently broken by Sri Lankan Muralitharan. The legendary fast bowler was first cricketer to take more than 400 wickets in both tests and One Day Internationals. To his credit he is the only cricketer in the world who has taken four hat-tricks in his international career. His bowling was impressive from the word go but he surprised everyone in 1997 when he scored an impressive 257 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 in Sheikhupura.
Akram after his retirement from cricket is working as a commentator with ESPN, Star Sports, and ARY Digital. He has been actively involved in different diabetes awareness programs across Pakistan. Currently he is serving as a bowling coach and consultant for the Kolkata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders in the IPL.
One of the all time greatest batsmen, Brian Lara was once asked about his favourite bowler and he said: “Over my 15 or 16 years of playing international cricket in Tests and One Day Internationals, Wasim Akram is definitely the most outstanding bowler I've ever faced”.
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