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Wasim Akram’s Incredible Records that justify his Legacy

Pace. Swing. Accuracy. Consistency. We can go on telling all the attributes of a great fast bowler, and Wasim Akram can go on being the best exponent of them all.

Despite bidding adieu to international cricket 17 years ago, he’s still considered one of the greatest fast-bowlers to have graced the sport.

With 414 Test wickets and 502 ODI wickets, there isn’t a single batsman he didn’t intimidate during his times.

As the legend is celebrating his 54th birthday we at CricIndeed will revisit some of the most iconic records set by the ‘Sultan of Swing’:

#1 Most Wickets In List-A Cricket

Wasim Akram has 881 wickets in List-A cricket, which is the most by any bowler. South Africa’s Alan Donald, who sits second in the list, has 197 wickets less than Akram.

Even in ODI cricket, he’s second only to Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan (534) in terms of wickets. In fact, he was the first-ever bowler to cross the 500-wickets milestone in One Day Internationals. Wasim is also the first bowler to complete 400 wickets in both forms of international cricket.

PlayerWicketsAverage
Wasim Akram88121.91
Alan Donald68421.84
Muttiah Muralitharan68222.39
John Lever67419.70
Waqar Younis67422.36
Table: 5 Bowler with most List-A Wickets

#2 Highest Test Score Batting at No.8

Considering his absolute mastery with the ball in hand, people tend to underestimate how capable Akram was as a lower-order batsman. His most celebrated batting performance came in October 1996 when he scored a jaw-dropping 257* while batting at no.8 and hence, creating the record.

Highest Scores at Each Batting Position in Test

Position/No.12345
OpenerMatthew Hayden – 380Leonard Hutton – 364Sanath Jayasuriya – 340Hanif Mohammad – 337David Warner – 335*
No. 3Brian Lara – 400*Brian Lara – 375Wiaan Mulder – 367*Garry Sobers – 365*Wally Hammond – 336*
No. 4Mahela Jayawardene – 374Inzamam-ul-Haq – 329Bob Cowper – 307Martin Crowe – 299Ross Taylor – 290
No. 5Michael Clarke – 329*Don Bradman – 304Karun Nair – 303*Brendon McCullum – 302Tip Foster – 287
No. 6Ben Stokes – 258Doug Walters – 250Don Bradman – 234MS Dhoni – 224AB de Villiers – 217*
No. 7Don Bradman – 270Denis Atkinson – 219Adam Gilchrist – 204*Jack Ryder – 201*Brendon McCullum – 185
No. 8Wasim Akram – 257*Imtiaz Ahmed – 209Jason Holder – 202*Kamran Akmal – 154Mahmudullah – 150*
No. 9Ian Smith – 173Stuart Broad – 169Clem Hill – 160Asif Iqbal – 146Daniel Vettori – 137*
No. 10Walter Read – 117Abul Hasan – 113Pat Symcox – 108Reggie Duff – 104Sarfraz Nawaz – 90
No. 11Ashton Agar – 98Tino Best – 95James Anderson – 81Zaheer Khan – 75Richard Collinge – 68*

#3 Most Sixes in a Test Innings

The match against Zimbabwe in 1996, when he scored the highest score by any No.8 batsman in Tests, of 257*, Akram cleared the ropes 12 times – the highest in any individual Test innings. 4 other batsmen have struck 11 sixes in an innings lagging behind him in the list.

In this match, he also set the record for scoring the highest Test score by a Pakistani captain, which was later broken by Younis Khan (313) in 2009. 257* is also the highest score by a bowler with over 300 Test wickets.

PLAYERNO. OF SIXESRUNS SCOREDAGAINSTVENUEYEAR
Wasim Akram (PAK)12257*ZimbabweSheikhupura1996
Yashasvi Jaiswal (IND)12214*EnglandRajkot2024
Matthew Hayden (AUS)11380ZimbabwePerth2003
Ben Stokes (ENG)11258South AfricaCape Town2016
Kusal Mendis (SL)11245IrelandGalle2023
Nathan Astle (NZ)11222EnglandChristchurch2002
Brendon McCullum (NZ)11202PakistanSharjah2014
Brendon McCullum (NZ)11195Sri LankaChristchurch2014
Wally Hammond (ENG)10336*New ZealandAuckland1933
Chris Gayle (WI)9333Sri LankaGalle2010
Inzamam Ul Haq (PAK)9329New ZealandLahore2002
Ben Stokes (ENG)9155AustraliaLondon2023
Chris Cairns (NZ)9120ZimbabweAuckland1996
Shimron Hetmyer (WI)993BangladeshMirpur2018
Tim Southee (NZ)977*EnglandNapier2008

#4 Second Most ODI Wickets at a Single Ground

Akram was holding the record for taking the most number of wickets in ODI history at a single ground (122, Sharjah Cricket Stadium), until Shakib Al Hasan beat him by picking his 123rd wicket at Dhaka. However, Akram is the first person to grab 100+ ODI wickets at the same ground. Waqar Younis, the second person to grab 100+ ODI wickets at a single ground, also did in Sharjah. He ranks third overall with 114 wickets.

Wasim and Waqar also leads the chart for the Most bowled wickets in ODI.

Most ODI Wickets at a Single Venue

PlayerMatchesWicketsAverageVenue
Shakib Al Hasan (BAN)8913124.19Shere Bangla National Stadium
Wasim Akram (PAK)7712219.50Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Waqar Younis (PAK)6111420.17Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN)649423.80Shere Bangla National Stadium
Muthiah Muralidaran (SL)458217.73Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Muthiah Muralidaran (SL)577526.33R. Premadasa Stadium
Abdur Razzak (BAN)527528.02Shere Bangla National Stadium
Rubel Hossain (BAN)496530.09Shere Bangla National Stadium
Saqlain Mushtaq (PAK)366121.85Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)716032.70R. Premadasa Stadium

#5 Most ODI Wickets as a Captain

Wasim Akram has 158 wickets to his name as an ODI captain of Pakistan, which is the most by anyone. He’s pursued by the Proteas all-rounder Shaun Pollock in the list.

Talking about other records of Akram, he’s also one of only two bowlers to have taken both a Test match and One Day International hat-trick, the other being Pakistan fast bowler, Mohammad Sami.

Akram, in total, has claimed two hat tricks in both ODIs and Tests – a total of 4, the maximum by any International bowler.

Most ODI Wickets as Captain

PLAYERINNINGSRUNS CONCEDEDWICKETSBEST BOWLINGAVERAGEECONOMYSTRIKE RATE4-FORS5-FORS
Wasim Akram (PAK)10835761585/1522.633.8934.892
Shaun Pollock (SA)9631531345/3723.523.7637.451
Imran Khan (PAK)11738011314/2729.014.142.330
Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN)8836571024/2935.855.1441.720
Jason Holder (WI)8237201015/2736.835.663932
Waqar Younis (PAK)602357977/3624.295.0728.723
Daniel Vettori (NZ)772530955/726.633.8141.911
Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)1063374925/2836.674.6946.821
Kapil Dev (IND)732388915/4326.243.742.411
Heath Streak (ZIM)672601894/829.224.613830

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