Wasim Akram is the greatest left-arm fast bowler to have graced the game of cricket. Known by the name of Sultan of Swing, the legendary bowler could swing the ball both ways, even in one delivery.
Having made his first-class debut only at the age of 18, Wasim made the touring New Zealand team wonder how Pakistan keeps producing fiery pacers at such a young age as he picked 7 wickets in the tour match. A couple of weeks later in November 1984, he made his ODI debut against the Kiwis before being called up for the tour of New Zealand in 1985.
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In just his second Test match, the genius picked two five-wicket hauls to announce himself as the next big thing in the cricketing world.
Let’s have a look at Wasim’s record with the ball:
| Format | Mat | Inns | Wickets | BBI | BBM | Average | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10w |
| Tests | 104 | 181 | 414 | 7/119 | 11/110 | 23.62 | 2.59 | 54.6 | 20 | 25 | 5 |
| ODIs | 356 | 351 | 502 | 5/15 | 5/15 | 23.52 | 3.89 | 36.2 | 17 | 6 | 0 |
Not only this, but he was also a more than useful all-rounder, with a best of 257* in Test cricket to go with 3 centuries.
He has the record for the most number of hat-tricks in international cricket, with 2 each in Tests and ODIs. He became the first bowler to take more than 400 wickets in both formats. Only Muttiah Muralitharan has achieved the feat since then.
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Coming back to ODIs, Wasim was the first fast bowler to cross the 500-wickets mark. Let’s relive all those glorious moments when he took his 1st, 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th, and 500th ODI wicket:
Wasim Akram’s 1st, 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th and 500th wicket in ODIs. pic.twitter.com/Vs45lJ4VXQ
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) April 16, 2020
The legendary bowler completed his 500 wickets in 2003 World Cup against the Netherlands. He retired shortly after the mega event in which Pakistan turned out a dismal performance and were knocked out of the tournament.
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