When the anniversary of Pakistan’s lone world cup win rolls around each year, some suggest that Wasim Akram played the biggest role in actually bringing the cup home, bigger than even the skipper Imran Khan.
Pakistan won the ODI world cup on this day in 1992. The astonishing success of that team, coupled with the relative lack of success afterwards, has made the trophy nothing short of a mythic tale for Pakistan.
When Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, posted about the victory on Monday, it took care to mention that the trophy was won by an ‘Imran Khan-led’ team.
However, detractors often say that Khan should not take credit for a team effort. But some suggest that Wasim Akram, who has a case for being one of the country’s greatest ever players, had a bigger role in the tournament and particularly the final.
“Pakistan would not have won the World Cup if not for this man,” one such post read.
The heorics of the tournament are well known. While the man of the tournament prize evaded him, Akram finished the tournament with 18 wickets, the most of any bowler.
The final match was his star performance where he took three wickets for 49 runs and also scored a blistering 33 runs of 18 balls. He was declared man of the match for his performance.
Defending a decent total of 249, Pakistan had dismissed four English batsman for 69 runs before falling into a rut.
The two new batsmen, Neil Fairbrother and Allan Lamb, put on 72 runs for the fifth wicket. Akram removed Lamb and Chris Lewis in consecutive deliveries, setting Pakistan up for the win.
Imran Khan, who had promoted himself up the order and scored 72 runs, took the final wicket.