Wasim Akram

Akram's father, Chaudhary Muhammed Akram, was originally from a village near Amritsar, who moved to Kamonki, in Pakistani Punjab after the partition of India in 1947.

His mother's name is Begum Akram.

He has three siblings: two elder brothers Naeem Akram and Nadeem Akram and a younger sister, Sofia Akram.

He was educated at Government Islamia College, Civil Lines, Lahore.

At the age of 30, Akram was diagnosed with diabetes.

"I remember what a shock it was because I was a healthy sportsman with no history of diabetes in my family, so I didn't expect it at all. It seemed strange that it happened to me when I was 30, but it was a very stressful time and doctors said that can trigger it."

Since then he has sought to be involved in various awareness campaigns for diabetes.

Wasim Akram HI (Punjabi, ; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.

Akram is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time.

He is often revered as The Sultan of Swing.

Wasim Akram was born on 3 June 1966 to a Punjabi Muslim family in Lahore.

In 1988, Akram signed for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England.

From 1988 to 1998, he opened their bowling attack in their NatWest Trophy, Benson and Hedges Cup, and Sunday League tournaments.

Akram married Huma Mufti in 1995.

They had two sons from their marriage of 14 years: Tahmoor and Akbar.

As captain, he led Pakistan to the finals of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, where they lost to Australia by 8 wickets.

A left-arm fast bowler who could bowl with significant pace, he holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket, with 881, and is second only to Sri Lankan off-spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of ODI wickets, with 502 in total.

He is considered to be one of the founders, and perhaps the finest exponent of, reverse swing bowling.

In 2002, Wisden released its only list of the best players of all time.

Wasim was ranked as the best bowler in ODI of all time, with a rating of 1223.5, ahead of Allan Donald, Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Joel Garner, Glenn McGrath and Muralitharan.

Wasim took 23 four-wicket hauls in 356 ODI matches played.

He was the first bowler to reach the 500-wicket mark in ODI cricket, and he did so during the 2003 World Cup.

On 30 September 2009, Akram was one of five new members inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

He was the bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Huma died of multiple organ failure at Apollo Hospital in Chennai, India, on 25 October 2009.

In October 2013, Wasim Akram was the only Pakistani cricketer to be named in an all-time Test World XI to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

On 7 July 2013, it was reported that Akram had become engaged to an Australian woman, Shaniera Thompson, whom he had met while on a visit to Melbourne in 2011.

Akram married Shaniera on 12 August 2013, saying he has started a new life on a happy note.

He was quoted as saying, "I married Shaniera in Lahore in a simple ceremony, and this is the start of a new life for me, my wife, and for my kids."

He moved from Lahore to Karachi with his wife and children.

On 3 September 2014, the couple tweeted that they were expecting their first baby—the third child of Akram.

On 27 December 2014, Shaniera gave birth to a baby girl, Aiyla Sabeen Rose Akram, in Melbourne.

Akram started his career as a tape ball cricketer.

He later joined Ludhiana Gymkhana with the help of his friend, Khalid Mahmood.

His first class cricket debut was for BCCP Patron's Eleven against New Zealand cricket team.

However, he took a break from the position for IPL 6, citing a need to spend more time with family in Karachi, and he took a further break from IPL 2017; he was replaced by Lakshmipathy Balaji.

He was working as director and bowling coach of Islamabad United in Pakistan Super League until he left to join Multan Sultans in August 2017.

In October 2018, he was named in the Pakistan Cricket Board's seven-member advisory cricket committee.

In November 2018, he joined PSL franchisee Karachi Kings as President.

The Government of Pakistan awarded him the Hilal-e-Imtiaz on 23 March 2019 for his lifetime achievements in the field of cricket.