Pakistan cricket team as a member of the International Cricket Council is representing the nation yet again in enduring matches of World Cup 2011. With fourteen teams competing in this year’s Cricket World Cup, hopes are still high with an absolute support from every Pakistani for the team to perform well. In every single match, performance has been gauged wisely and results are accelerating optimism in hearts of Pakistani supporters.

Sub-continent, the host of 2011 ICC World Cup witnessing intriguing matches of rival teams with sheer excitement of spectators within the continent and outside. The much awaited tenth Cricket World Cup has been hosted by India, and Co-Hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Matches began on 19 February leaving a trace of diehard efforts to win, chasing scores and make their people proud back home. Nevertheless, not all efforts lasted with flying colors as every defeat led towards victory of other team. Thirty one matches held so far between 14 teams laying down varying results.

Pakistan playing matches under Group ‘A’ showed remarkable teamwork in the first match against Kenya giving massive chase, eventually winning by 205 runs. Second match Pakistan played against Sri Lanka and amazed the spectators with its unmatched performance. Consequently, Pakistan has remained successful in maintaining its glorious victory through three matches including Canada, in a row.

A tinge of disappointment was seen with sudden decline in bowling and fielding on the ground while playing with New Zealand. It apparently, shook the morale of team as few players were criticized for showing inattentive behavior on the field. There still has been wave of optimism seen among Pakistani fans for next match with Zimbabwe, which by performing well can stabilize Pakistan’s position in their respective group.

To peek at other teams playing World Cup 2011, the performances on different fields have now and then remained unprecedented. New Zealand remained successful in maintaining its charm of strong winner team up till now by winning every single match that has been held with other participating teams.

In Group ‘B’ apparently India is leading with highest points but the results would not be finalized as plenty of games have not been played yet. A drawback for England was the defeat faced by Ireland, which eventually lowered England’s ranking in group ‘B’.

The shift in positions might be seen on performance basis or ranking points until Quarter Final, subsequently, teams will encounter exhilarating playoffs between winners of the matches held. Fans inside the country or outside will keep anticipating and cheering their teams with much conviction to be the winner of ICC World Cup 2011.

Written by: Kiran Khalil
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Wasim Akram is a member of the exclusive group of cricketers, who took 500 wickets in One Day International Matches. Wasim Akram was brought into the cricket team by Javed Miandad and later   became the captain of the Pakistan team succeeding the brilliant Imran Khan.

Wasim Akram is known for his reverse swing bowling, of which his is considered to be one of the founders, and without doubt it best exponent. His brilliant bowling of the reverse swing later led to accusations of ball tampering. Wasim Akram’s reverse swing bowling in now accepted as a legitimate feature of bowling.

On the 30^th of September 2009, Wasim Akram was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, which recognizes the legends of cricket, as well as their contributions and achievements for cricket.

Wasim Akram has played in five World Cup matches, and also has the distinction of playing the most matches in World Cup cricket (38 matches). He also captained the Pakistan team in 15 World Cup matches, and took 55 wickets in the matches which are more than any other bowler. His best bowling performance is taking 5 wickets for only 28 runs. For such outstanding performances, he was considered by many as the best left-arm bowler ever. He is also said to be one of the greatest cricketers of all times.

Apart from being amongst the best bowlers in the world, Wasim Akram was also an excellent batsman, scoring as many as 257 runs against Zimbabwe in 1996-97. However, in batting Wasim did not achieve his full potential, and the popular belief is that he could have done much better with his batting.

Wasim Akram was associated with and played for Pakistan, Lancashire, the Automobile Corporation and the Pakistan International Airlines. Wasim Akram’s ODI career debuted against New Zealand at Faisalabad, whereas his Test Debut was also playing New Zealand in 1985.

Although Wasim Akram captained the Pakistan team for the 2003 World Cup, he was taken off the team because of its very poor performance in that ODI. His image was also damaged when he was accused of indulging in match fixing.  Shortly after the 2003 World Cup match, Wasim Akram announced his retirement from Cricket after a brief stint at playing for Hampshire.

Wasim Akram dominated the 1992 World Cup, when Pakistan won the world cup playing in the Finals. Wasim’s 33 runs of only 19 balls, gave Pakistan a respectable score of 249 runs. His brilliant bowling performance, dismissing Allan Lamb and Chris Lewis in successive deliveries helped the Pakistan team achieve victory.  He was also nominated as Man of the Match in the finals of the World Cup.

Written By – Richard Thomas
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Wasim Akram a legendary left fast bowler who is given the title of ‘the sultan of swing’ is considered to be one of the greatest bowlers in the world.

The former Pakistan captain was also achieved the Wisden Player of 1993. Wasim Akram was also the first amongst fast bowlers to achieve the highest numbers of wickets in a one day international which was 502 wickets. His bowling style was accompanied with his brilliant economy rate of 3.89.

Along with being a master bowler he actually was a good batsman as well. Akram made a total of 3717 one day international runs at a fair average of 16.52.

To further his exceptional cricket career Akram also used to play county cricket for Lancashire. During the very last stages of his career before retirement Akram played for Hampshire for a bit as well.

Wasim Akram’s fight against diabetes began when he was diagnosed with diabetes at the peak of his career in the year of 1997. It was in the middle of a test series. Akram’s father dragged to him to the doctor for a proper diagnosis. He showed symptoms of diabetes before actually being diagnosed. Akram experienced loss of appetite and extreme thirst followed by the desire to sleep for hours.

Wasim Akram began to lose weight and felt tired in the middle of the day. This is when his father insisted to take Akram to a doctor to get a checkup.

It was a terrible experience for the legend as Wasim Akram explained in his interviews that he used to get pretty low and depressed. Everybody around was worried about how his illness was going to affect his game.
Akram couldn’t believe that this was happening to him, he was physically fit and in top condition always. And diabetes usually happens to people who are over 50. But gradually Wasim Akram began to fight against diabetes.

Akram explained that diabetes can happen to anyone. And in this country there is not much awareness of the fact that diabetes is indeed a very serious illness. He further explained that diabetes can easily happen to people who have a poor diet with no indulgence in physical activities.

Wasim Akram was told to keep quiet; his parents insisted that he doesn’t announce it to the world that he had diabetes. But in spite of that in order to make the people of Pakistan and the subcontinent aware diabetes he announced it. He accepted it with open arms and lived actively, he worked out and it never influenced his exceptional form in cricket.

After Wasim Akram’s fight against diabetes was over and he accepted that he had diabetes he chose to help other people become aware of it. He wanted to let the people know that diabetes is indeed manageable only if the person is determined enough.

Written By: Shamir Khan
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