Wasim Akram Biography, Age, Career, Family and Net Worth

Published on Nov 17, 2023 by

Wasim Akram Biography
Full Name Wasim Akram
Nick Name Wasim
Profession Cricket Player, Coach and Commentator
Date of Birth June 3, 1966
Birthplace Lahore, Pakistan
Age 57 years
College Govt. Islamia College Civil Lines
Education N/A
Nationality Pakistani
Eye Colour Black
Hair Colour Black
Bowling Left-arm fast
Batting Left-handed
Religion Islam
Zodiac/ Star Sign Gemini
Gender Male
Height 1.88 m
Weight 85 KG
Father’s Name Chaudhry Mohammad Akram
Mother’s Name Begum Akram
Siblings Naeem Akram, Nadeem Akram (brothers) and Sofia Akram (sister)
Marital Status Married
Wife Name  Late Huma (2009)
Shaniera 
kids Taimur, Akbar (sons) and Aiyla (daughter)
Father-in-Law Name N/A
Sister-in-Law Name N/A
Brother-in-Law Name N/A
Mother-in-Law Name N/A
Net Worth Approx.26.0 million

Wasim Akram’s Introduction

Wasim Akram Biography

Wasim Akram, born on June 3, 1966, in Lahore, Pakistan, is a very famous cricket player. He is now 57 years old. He is known for being one of the best bowlers ever, especially for bowling very fast and making the ball swing a lot. This skill made him very special in cricket, a game played and loved by many people around the world. Wasim played for Pakistan’s national cricket team and helped them win many important games, including the World Cup in 1992. People call him the “Sultan of Swing” because of how good he was at making the ball move in the air. Besides playing cricket, Wasim also talks about cricket on TV and teaches others how to play better.

Wasim Akram’s Family

Wasim Akram was born into a Punjabi Muslim family in Lahore. His father, Chaudhary Muhammed Akram, originally from a village near Amritsar, moved to Kamonki in the Pakistan Punjab after the partition of India in 1947. His mother is known as Begum Akram. Wasim has three siblings: two elder brothers, Naeem and Nadeem Akram, and a younger sister, Sofia Akram. He grew up in Lahore and was educated at Government Islamia College in Civil Lines, Lahore. 

Wasim Akram’s Wife and kids

Wasim Akram Wife and Kids

Wasim Akram married Shaniera Thompson, an Australian public relations consultant, on August 12, 2013. Their love story began when they met at a dinner party in Melbourne in 2011. Despite coming from different backgrounds and cultures, they formed a deep connection. Shaniera moved to Pakistan after marrying Wasim, embracing his country and its culture as her own.

The couple has a daughter named Aiyla, born in December 2014. Shaniera also became a stepmother to Wasim’s two sons from his previous marriage, Tahmoor and Akbar, and has formed a close bond with them. Shaniera has been a significant support system for Wasim, especially following the death of his first wife, Huma Mufti. Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India, on 25 October 2009. 

Shaniera is not only known for her marriage to Wasim but also for her work as a social worker in Pakistan. She is the CEO of the Akram Foundation, which focuses on various social causes, including diabetes awareness and the welfare of homeless children. 

Wasim Akram’s Domestic Career

Wasim Akram Domestic Career

Wasim Akram first played cricket using a tape ball. He joined a team called Ludhiana Gymkhana bby the help of his friend, Khalid Mehmood. His first big game was against New Zealand’s team. In 1988, Wasim started playing for a team in England called Lancashire County Cricket Club. He played there until 1998, leading the team in many important matches. The people in England really liked him and even sang a song for him during the games. Under Wasim’s leadership in 1998, his team won two big tournaments and almost won the biggest league, only losing five games that whole season.

Wasim Akram’s International Career

Wasim Akram International Career

Test Cricket

Wasim Akram first played for Pakistan in a big cricket game against New Zealand in 1985. In his second big game, he did really well and got 10 players out. Before this, not many people knew him because he hadn’t been picked for his college cricket team. He tried out for the Pakistan team at a big stadium in Lahore and didn’t get to show his skills until the third day. When he finally got to bowl, he impressed a famous player, Javed Miandad, who said he should be on the team. So, Wasim got to play for Pakistan even though he hadn’t played much big cricket before.

Wasim quickly became a very good player in the late 1980s. He was part of the team that played in the West Indies in 1988. But then, he hurt his groin, which made it hard for him to play for a while. After two surgeries, he came back in the 1990s as a bowler who was very good at making the ball swing and being accurate. Now, Wasim Akram has taken more players out in big games for Pakistan than anyone else, with 414 outs.

One Day International

Wasim Akram began playing one-day international (ODI) cricket for Pakistan against New Zealand in 1984, with Zaheer Abbas as the team captain. He became well-known after taking five wickets in one of his early matches against Australia in 1985. Some of the players he got out were famous cricketers like Kepler Wessels, Dean Jones, and Allan Border. Today, Wasim Akram has taken more wickets than any other Pakistani player in ODI cricket.

In his early cricket days, Wasim performed really well in a couple of tournaments in 1984-85 and 1985-86, where he took five wickets and had a very low number of runs scored against him. During a big tournament in Sharjah, he and another player, Abdul Qadir, helped get the New Zealand team out for just 64 runs in a semi-final match. Pakistan won easily and it became one of their biggest wins. In the final against India, Wasim and Imran Khan took five wickets between them, including getting out important players from the Indian team.

However, in the 1987 Cricket World Cup held in South Asia, Wasim didn’t do as well. He only took seven wickets in all the matches he played, and they were quite expensive wickets. The matches he played were against teams like West Indies, Sri Lanka, and England, and all the games were in Pakistan. In a series in 1988-89, Wasim had a great game against Australia where he took four wickets and only allowed 25 runs.

Emergence

Wasim Akram got his 100th cricket player out in Sharjah in a game against West Indies in 1989-1990. The 100th player he got out was Curtly Ambrose. In that game, he got five players out for the second time in his career. Also in this game, Akram got three players out in a row, which is called a hat-trick. Then, on May 4, 1990, in Sharjah, he did another hat-trick, this time against Australia, getting three players out again.

From 1986 to 1989, Wasim Akram was at his best, getting 100 players out and only allowing about 22.71 runs for each player he got out. He also didn’t let players score more than 3.9 runs per over on average and got four players out in a game four times. His first two times getting four players out in a game were in Sri Lanka in 1986, against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

By December 1991, Akram had played in 107 games and got 143 players out, with each player costing him almost 24 runs on average and keeping his scoring rate to 3.84 runs per over.

World’s best

Wasim Akram played a big part in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, where Pakistan won. In the final game against England, he scored 33 runs quickly and helped Pakistan set a strong total. Then, when he bowled, he got a crucial player out early and later made two other batsmen get out in a row. This great performance made him the best player of the match.

In 1993, Wasim Akram did really well against Sri Lanka, making it hard for seven batsmen to score. He also achieved a milestone by taking his 200th wicket in a series involving Pakistan, West Indies, and South Africa. The year 1993 was his best in one-day internationals, taking the most wickets in a year for him.

However, Wasim Akram faced a big disappointment in the 1996 Cricket World Cup when Pakistan lost in the quarterfinals against India, and he couldn’t play due to injury. His career also faced challenges, like when he was accused of having marijuana during a tour, but he denied doing anything wrong.

Between 1992 and 1997, Wasim Akram played many matches and took lots of wickets, showing he was one of the best. In 1998, he thought about retiring from cricket because of accusations against him related to fixing matches, but he decided to keep playing after getting support from the cricket board’s chairman.

Late career

In 1999, Wasim Akram was the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in the World Cup. They reached the final but lost badly to Australia. Australia won easily with a lot of time left. People started saying that Wasim Akram had fixed the match to let Australia win, but these accusations were never proven to be true.

Wasim Akram was the top bowler for Pakistan in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, taking 12 wickets in 6 games. But Pakistan didn’t do well in the tournament and didn’t get past the early rounds. Because of this, the Pakistan Cricket Board decided to let go of Wasim Akram and seven other players from the team.

Wasim Akram’s Coaching Career

Wasim Akram coaching Career

In 2010, Wasim Akram joined the Kolkata Knight Riders, a cricket team in the Indian Premier League, as a bowling coach. Sourav Ganguly, who was the captain of India’s cricket team at the time, had wanted Wasim Akram to coach India’s bowlers, but that didn’t happen. However, Wasim Akram did get to coach at the club level with Kolkata. He has been very important in helping young Indian fast bowlers like Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav improve. He helped them become better players for their country. Wasim Akram also helped bring a new player, Mohammad Irfan, a fast bowler from Pakistan, to the Kolkata team.

Besides working in India, Wasim Akram has coached young bowlers in Pakistan too. He found some very talented teenagers, including Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan. Wasim Akram has also been a coach for teams in Pakistan’s cricket league, like Islamabad United and Multan Sultans. Right now, he’s working with the Karachi Kings as their chairman and bowling coach. He also has a big role in the Kashmir Premier League as its Vice President.

Wasim Akram’s Playing Style

wasim Akram Playing style

Wasim Akram was really fast and could bowl with great control. He knew exactly where to bowl to make it hard for the batsmen, using his skill to swing the ball both ways. He was very good at making the ball swing later in the game, which made him very tough to face. He worked well with another bowler, Waqar Younis, and together they were known for being a strong bowling team. Akram was also good at batting, especially against spin bowlers, but sometimes he got out too easily without scoring much. Once, he scored 257 not out in a game, which was a big deal. He was important for his team not just in bowling but sometimes in batting too, like when he hit a six to win a match.

Viv Richards, a famous batsman, thought Akram was the best fast bowler after Dennis Lillee. Ricky Ponting, another great batsman, said Akram was one of the toughest bowlers he faced because you never knew when he would bowl a really difficult ball. Wisden, a famous cricket book, even put him in an all-time best cricket team because of how good he was.

Wasim Akram’s Television Career

Year Show Role Language Country
2008 Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena Judge Hindi India
2016 The Sportsman Show Host Urdu Pakistan
2017 Geo Khelo Pakistan Host Urdu Pakistan
2022 Jeeto Pakistan League Guest Urdu Pakistan

Wasim Akram’s Films

Year Title Role
2023 Money Back Guarantee Akram

Wasim Akram’s Controversies

In 1992, Wasim Akram did really well against English players, but some people in England started saying he was cheating by messing with the ball, even though there was no video to prove it. Wasim Akram and another player, Younis, were really good at making the ball move in a way that was hard for batsmen to hit, called reverse swing, which wasn’t common knowledge in England then.

Later, there was a bigger problem when some people said Wasim Akram might have been involved in fixing matches, meaning he was accused of manipulating games for money. The Pakistan Cricket Board asked a judge to look into it. The judge said that things didn’t look right with Wasim Akram, he didn’t help the investigation much, and he was only found not guilty because a key witness changed his story under weird conditions. So, the judge felt Wasim Akram couldn’t be completely trusted.

Wasim Akram’s Award and Records

  • Won Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1993.
  • Got Lux Style Award for Most Stylish Sports Person in 2003.
  • Took 414 wickets in 104 Test matches, a record for Pakistan.
  • Scored 2,898 runs in Test cricket.
  • In ODIs, took 502 wickets in 356 games.
  • First to take over 400 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket.
  • Held the World Cup wickets record with 55 in 38 matches until 2007.
  • Known for achieving four or more hat-tricks in international cricket.
  • Scored the highest runs (257 not out) as a number eight batsman in a Test inning.
  • Tied for third highest number of Man of the Match awards in Test cricket.
  • Second highest run-scorer in ODIs without scoring a hundred.
  • Only player to take ten or more wickets in a Test match three times and lose.
  • First bowler to take 500 ODI wickets.
  • Has taken the most ODI wickets at a single ground (122 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium).
  • Holds the record for most ODI wickets taken by a captain (158).

Wasim Akram’s Net Worth

Wasim Akram Net Worth

Wasim Akram, a legendary figure in cricket, has an estimated net worth of approximately 26.0 million dollars. This impressive wealth reflects his successful career as a cricketer and a sports commentator, along with his roles as a coach and in various endorsements. Akram’s financial success is a testament to his talent, hard work, and the diverse avenues he has explored beyond his playing days, including media work and involvement in cricket leagues around the world.

Wasim Akram’s Social Links

Wasim Akram Instagram Wasim Akram Facebook logo

FAQ’s

At what age Wasim Akram retired?

When Wasim Akram was 35 years old, he decided to stop playing One Day International (ODI) cricket after the 2003 World Cup. He had already stopped playing Test cricket in 2002.

Is Wasim Akram left handed?

Wasim Akram is known as one of the best cricket players. He is the best left-handed bowler ever and one of the top fast bowlers. He was also really good at batting and helped Pakistan win the World Cup in one-day cricket.

Does Wasim Akram have diabetes?

Wasim Akram was really surprised when he found out he had diabetes at age 30. He was fit and nobody in his family had diabetes, so he didn't see it coming. He mentioned it was a tough time for him, which the doctors said could have caused his diabetes.

Why did Wasim Akram retire?

In September 1998, Wasim Akram said he was leaving international cricket. He also got a retired judge to help him deal with accusations that he fixed matches. Wasim Akram thought these accusations were made up by people within the cricket organisation. He felt he had no choice but to quit cricket.

About the Author: Gulrukh Chaudhary

Gulrukh Chaudhary, an accomplished digital marketer and technology writer with a passion for exploring the frontiers of innovation. Armed with a Master's degree in Information Technology, Gulrukh seamlessly blends her technical prowess with her creative flair, resulting in captivating insights into the world of emerging technologies. Discover more about her on her LinkedIn profile.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *