"Allan Lamb has been cleaned up, perhaps, so too England". That one sentence by Richie Benaud is etched into every Pakistan cricket fan’s memory. The 1992 World Cup final was the jewel in the crown of the legendary Wasim Akram.

Akram isn’t just a man. He wasn’t just a player. He isn’t just a superstar.

He is the mythical superhero one reads about in comics. He is the explorer of the unexplored. He is the undisputed king of left arm fast bowling. He is a symbol of swing and is the protagonist of chaos.

In the second ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe, on cricket’s return to the country, Pakistan’s favorite son, Wasim Akram, stepped into what once was his coliseum, where he once was a gladiator. As soon as he entered the normally buzzing and noisy press box there was silence. Even those he is familiar with were in awe of him.

Most people just listened to him talk and stared at him much like the many batsmen who stood at the non-striker’s end while Wasim Akram weaved his magic on the man on strike. As soon as he was done answering questions, the Who’s Who of the press box rushed to take pictures with him. There was chaos similar to the chaos his bowling caused to the English team in the 1992 final or to the New Zealand team in the Auckland Test back in 1994 or the countless other occasions when all hell broke loose when that wand-like left wrist weaved its magic. 

Wasim Akram’s aura and stardom is unparalleled in Pakistan. Here is a man who has been made the scapegoat, a man who has an alleged shady relationship with the darker side of cricket but someone who is the symbol of strength for diabetics, an emblem of hope for aspiring cricketers and a man who has forever redefined the art of fast bowling.

He wasn’t as intimidating as Holding, Croft, Thomson or Lilly or as cunning as Imran or Marshall. He was a different specimen altogether. A left-armer, a rare commodity at the time, not very tall, neither a slave to bowling over the wicket, nor very consistent in his line nor length. He was the anomaly, a hybrid of what had preceded him. As a magician his favorite trick was pitching the ball up to the batsman within the stumps, his rabbit out of the hat was his short delivery to intimidate batsmen. His wand resurrected dead pitches into mine fields.

Wasim Akram’s range of trickery was frightening. He could swing the ball in and out, he could bowl over or around the wicket, he could swing the new ball or make the old ball talk, he could deliver toe crushing yorkers or bowl skull damaging bouncers. And he wasn’t just a jack of all trades – he was the master of them all.

He started off his career with a long run up and as the years passed it became shorter, the strides became lesser but the venom became more intense. In the words of Mark Taylor, “Wasim Akram can pitch four balls in the same spot and make it do four different things.”, and there were times when he would make one delivery do four different things as Rahul Dravid found out in the famous Chennai test match in 1999. Osman Samiuhhdin describes that delivery as: “One remarkable delivery to Rahul Dravid in Chennai, did several things at once. So cruel and wicked was it, on its way to clipping off-bail, the edge of Dravid's bat must have heard a cackle, a subcontinental mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law, "Hah, you thought you had me covered?"

Wasim Akram has messiah status in Pakistan and maybe the one dismissal that explains why, is the Chaminda Vaas caught & bowled in Sri Lanka back in 2000. After the usual shambolic catching by Pakistani fielders, Wasim Akram had lost his nerve – countless catches had been dropped. Akram pitched the ball short and Vaas tried to pull it only managing to get a top edge, the ball flew towards the square leg region, both the deep square leg fielder and the keeper called for the catch but Wasim Akram said mine, he ran all the way to square leg to take the catch. In that one dismissal he eliminated his 10 team mates, he alone took responsibility and he alone salvaged the situation. Akram took 5 wickets in that innings and Pakistan won the Test match by 5 wickets. On most occasions he would just shatter the stumps when catches were being dropped left right and center. Even today he has the ability to make people around him look invisible, his mere image on the giant screen at Gaddafi was cheered for more than any cricketer during this historic event.

Wasim Akram is the hipster’s choice despite being mainstream. If cricket had a prophecy, Wasim Akram would be mentioned in the original manuscript as the man who would inspire generations. In his day, left-armers where rare, now they are common. Wasim Akram is Junoon’s music, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice. He is Pakistan’s original rock-star. He will forever be the one and the only Wasim Bhai.