Wasim Akram (Cricketer)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Wasim Akram

• Akram was initially spotted by Javed Miandad after which he debuted for Pakistan in a 1984-85 series.

• In his debut First-Class match for the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan Patrons XI against New Zealand at Rawalpindi in 1984, he took 7 wickets and later earned a trip to New Zealand.

• He suffered from diabetes since he was 30 years old.

• On his first tour, he asked Miandad about the money required to travel, as he didn’t know that instead he will get paid.

• He retired from international cricket after the 2003 World Cup.

• He has never played an international T20 match, but played 5 counties T20 matches for Hampshire and took a total of 8 wickets for them.

• He won 17 Man of the Match awards in his career.

• Once his father, Chaudhry Mohammad Akram was kidnapped, beaten for a day, and later released him.

• Wasim and Waqar Younis were considered one of the most deadly bowling pairs, but off the field, they had a great rivalry and used to hate each other.

• His first wife, Huma, died in 2009 in Chennai due to multiple organ failures. Later, he married Shaniera Thompson from Australia in a private ceremony on 12 August 2013.

• He is 17 years older than Shaniera.

• He works a lot for charity and has a foundation called The Akram Foundation.

• In 2016, the couple appeared on The Kapil Sharma Show in India. 

• In October 2022, while talking about his upcoming book titled Sultan: A Memoir, he revealed that following his retirement in 2003, he became addicted to cocaine, and it ended after the death of his first wife, Huma, in 2009. ^[2]Dawn Akram said,
  

  I developed a dependence on cocaine. It started innocuously enough when I was offered a line at a party in England; my use grew steadily more serious, to the point that I felt I needed it to function.”

• In March 2024, Wasim took a dig at cricketer Shaheen Afridi‘s all-around skills. Shaheen, however, responded by making a shushing gesture after scoring a half-century in 28 balls in a Pakistan Super League match on 10 March.

• In June 2025, a statue of Wasim was unveiled at Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad, Pakistan. The statue received criticism for its appearance, as many netizens trolled the sculptors for creating a face that looked “disappointed.”