The King of Swing- Wasim Akram

Pakistan

The world has witnessed the greatest of swing bowlers till now, we will never see a star of swing bowling like this man from Multan, Wasim Akram. He was, indeed, the best of the best with his vicious in-swinging and out-swinging deliveries, accurately targeted, and with lightning speed. Wasim Akram comes from the land of the quick and fierce fast bowlers, Pakistan, he is still remembered for the magic he produced with the ball in his hands.  

Akash Chopra, former Indian cricketer turned commentator, came up with the best words to praise the abilities of Wasim Akram while wishing him on his 54th Birthday: 

Happy Birthday to The Harry Potter of the bowling clan….was born with a magic wand that ensured the ball rarely disobeyed his commands. 

He indeed was the Harry Potter of fast bowling.  

Here are some of Wasim’s unbelievable bowling performances the world witnessed during the prime time of his career. 

1) 1992 World Cup Final Spell 

Pakistan clinched the title for the first time. He helped his side win the final. Even though he took only 3 wickets in the match,  the timing of the wickets was crucial. He took two wickets in 2 deliveries with vicious in-swinging pacey deliveries, knocking the stumps of Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in the 34th over.  

2) 1992 England tour  

Pakistan’s 4-month long tour of England in 1992 truly defined Wasim Akram to the world stage. The Left-arm swing bowler, along with his counter-part Waqar Younis, dismantled the English batting line-up. The two Ws played an ample role in Pakistan’s famous 2-1 test series win over England. The king of swing bamboozled English batters with his swing and pacey deliveries. He took 21 wickets in 4 matches, including 9-103 in the deciding 5th test match of the series.  

3) 1989 ODI hat-trick against West Indies 

Wasim Akram has had 4 hat-tricks in his career. All of them are a treat to watch, but his first ODI hat-trick is a special moment. The Windies were needing 40 odd runs with 5 wickets in hand in a match, and then came the Harry Potter’s magic. He took 3 successive wickets 3 swinging fast deliveries and uprooting the stumps of Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshal, and Curtly Ambrose. The match was eventually won by Pakistan with Wasim Akram taking 5 wickets.   

The left-arm swing bowler from Multan had an illustrious career. He had 916 international wickets in 460 matches, including 4 hat-tricks in all formats. He is still in touch with cricket through his commentary or coaching in Franchise based Leagues.  He unfortunately now suffers from Diabetes but remains strong-willed and also helps with a lot of charity work with his own foundation

 

 

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