By Faraz Shaukat
March 1 2002

But once again, turmoil hit the great man, the 1996 World Cup was a nightmare for him. Wasim opted out of the crucial quarter final against India, which resulted in the Pakistan team losing. The backlash back home was that Wasim had been bribed not to play the match. His house was stoned, he received threats, and he was dropped from the team. Everything just went downhill.

Ever since that Quarterfinal, Wasim has been plagued with the issue of match fixing, on countless occasions he has been questioned, and on each question he has denied any involvement. It is hard to believe that a player of the caliber of Wasim Akram would do something like that, but after the recent example of Hansie Cronje, one can never tell. There have been quite a few occasions where this writer has watched some performances on the field and they make you think…what was that all about??

Wasim Akram has now become one of the all time greats of cricket, having taken more then 400 One Day International wickets, and a few wickets short of that mark in tests, it wont be long before he sets a record which will be hard to beat. He also has the record of being the only bowler to take two hatricks in both test and ODI, and also being the only bowler to take hatricks in back to back tests.

In the past few seasons he has adopted a brotherly role in the side, and he is now more commonly known as "Wasim Bahi" meaning brother Wasim. He has taken the responsibly of guiding the youngsters players, and helping them use all the experience he has to offer.

Despite the performances that Wasim has given for Pakistan, he will most probably be remembered for the possible dark antics that he might be involved him. Which is a shame both for him and for Pakistan, because he is a very well respected player in the cricketing world and a symbol of pride for Pakistan.

Wasim Akram Stats:

TEST MATCHES

Bowling:
Matches : 98
Innings : 140
Runs : 2809
Highest : 257
Average : 22.83
100s : 3
50s : 7

Bowling:
Overs : 3630.5
Maidens : 828
Runs : 9355
Wickets : 407
Best : 7-119
Average : 22.98
5w/Inn : 25
10w/Inn : 5

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS

Batting:
Matches : 306
Innings : 242
Runs : 3222
Highest : 86
Average : 16.19
50s : 6
100s : 0

Batting:
Overs : 2613.1
Maidens : 205
Runs : 10084
Wickets : 427
Best : 5-15
Average : 23.61
4w/Inn : 16
5w/Inn : 5