Legend · Pakistan

Wasim Akram

Fast Bowler · Left-hand bat · Left-arm fast

916 wickets

Check availability →

— Career wickets

The greatest left-arm fast bowler the game has seen, and the master of reverse swing.

— Biography

Wasim's legacy

Plucked from club cricket in Lahore at nineteen, Wasim Akram became the most complete left-arm fast bowler the game has ever produced. He could swing the new ball both ways at genuine pace and, with the old ball, he and Waqar Younis turned reverse swing into a dark art that rewrote how fast bowling was understood.

1984–1987
Age 18–21
Plucked from the Maidan
Wasim Akram was an unknown Lahore club cricketer — a tape-ball prodigy who had not even made his college team — when he arrived at the Gaddafi Stadium trials and waited two full days for a bowl. On the third day his raw pace and natural swing so convinced Javed Miandad that the great batsman insisted on his immediate inclusion. He made his ODI debut against New Zealand on 23 November 1984 at just eighteen, followed by his Test debut on 25 January 1985, and announced himself with a ten-wicket haul in only his second Test. Months later he routed Australia with five wickets in just his third ODI — dismissing Kepler Wessels, Dean Jones and captain Allan Border.
1988–1991
Age 21–25
The Sultan of Swing emerges
Akram's rise through the late 1980s was meteoric, and in 1988 he signed for Lancashire, where he opened the attack for a decade and won the affection of English crowds who serenaded him with chants of "Wasim for England." Reinventing himself around late, vicious swing, he became the foremost exponent of reverse swing — a left-armer who could bend the old ball both ways at genuine pace and deliver a lethal inswinging yorker. He claimed two ODI hat-tricks at Sharjah in 1989–90, bowling all six batsmen, and reached his 100th wicket with the prize scalp of Curtly Ambrose. Alongside Waqar Younis he formed the "two Ws," the most feared fast-bowling partnership of the era.
1992
Age 25
Champions of the world at the MCG
At the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Akram delivered the defining performance of his career on cricket's grandest stage. In the final against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, his blistering 33 from 19 balls lifted Pakistan to 249 for 6, and he then removed Ian Botham early before returning to produce the spell that broke the game open — bowling Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis with successive reverse-swinging deliveries. Named Man of the Match in the final, he had carried Pakistan to their first world title, and watching opponents knew, in Botham's words, "just what a special talent he was."
1993–1996
Age 26–30
The captaincy and the all-round master
In the wake of Imran Khan's retirement, Akram inherited the captaincy of Pakistan and entered the imperial phase of his career. The year 1993 was his finest in one-day cricket — 46 wickets at an average under 19 — and he passed his 200th wicket while terrorising the world's best batting line-ups with Waqar at his side. He proved himself a destructive all-rounder too: in October 1996 against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura he struck an unbeaten 257, still the highest Test innings ever played by a No. 8 batsman, studded with a record twelve sixes — the most by any player in a single Test innings.
1997–1999
Age 30–33
Leader of nations and counties
Now the elder statesman of Pakistan's attack, Akram remained a match-winner of the highest order while also captaining Lancashire to the 1998 NatWest Trophy and Sunday League double, with the county losing only five matches all season. As Pakistan's captain he guided the side to the final of the 1999 World Cup at Lord's, the home of cricket, leading a team that had reached the sport's summit once more. By this stage he stood among the most decorated bowlers the game had produced, admired across every cricketing nation.
2000–2003
Age 33–36
Milestones and a champion's farewell
Akram's final seasons were a procession of records that confirmed his place among the immortals. He became the first bowler in history to reach 500 wickets in one-day international cricket, achieving the milestone during the 2003 World Cup, where he was once again Pakistan's leading wicket-taker with twelve wickets in six matches. He retired with 414 Test wickets and 502 in ODIs — 916 international wickets in all — closing a left-arm fast-bowling career without equal. In 2002 Wisden ranked him the greatest ODI bowler of all time.
2003 – Today
Age 37 onward
The living legend
Beyond the boundary, Akram became one of the most beloved voices in the game — inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009, named the only Pakistani in Wisden's all-time Test World XI in 2013, and honoured by the Government of Pakistan with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz. His candid 2023 memoir, "Sultan", was widely acclaimed. Today he is one of cricket's most recognisable broadcasters — anchoring commentary for the Pakistan Super League and the 2025 Asia Cup — and in January 2026 was named brand ambassador of PSL 11 as the league expanded to eight teams. A devoted mentor to a generation of fast bowlers, he is also a tireless health advocate, sharing his own story to raise diabetes awareness across Pakistan and lending his name to the Pakistan Children's Heart Foundation and global social-impact initiatives. More than thirty years on from his debut, the Sultan of Swing remains an enduring ambassador for the sport he transformed.

— In Frame

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

Sports Legends Media

— Watch

— Honours & Records

1992

World Cup Champion

A decisive spell in the final at the MCG sealed Pakistan's first world title.

2003

First bowler to 500 ODI wickets

The first in history to the milestone, finishing with 502.

Career

414 Test wickets

In 104 Tests at an average of 23.62.

2009

ICC Hall of Fame

Inducted among the immortals of the game.

2002

Wisden's greatest ODI bowler

Ranked No. 1 of all time in Wisden's definitive list.

1996

257 not out

The highest Test innings ever by a No. 8, with a then-record 12 sixes.

— In Their Words

What the game says about Wasim

“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.”
Brian Lara
West Indies batting legend