Wasim Akram, a former Pakistani cricketer, took 31 five-wicket hauls during his career in international cricket. In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") ^{[1] [2]} refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, ^[3] and as of 2014 only 41 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. ^{[4] [5]} A left-arm fast bowler who represented his country between 1984 and 2003, the BBC described Akram as "one of the greatest left-arm bowlers in the history of world cricket", ^[6] while West Indian batsman Brian Lara said that Akram was "definitely the most outstanding bowler [I] ever faced". ^[7]

Akram made his Test debut in January 1985, ^[8] in an innings defeat by New Zealand in Auckland. ^[9] The following Test, in a man-of-the-match performance, he took ten wickets over the two innings, securing his first two five-wicket hauls but still ended on the losing side. ^[10] He took another pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match five years later, against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). ^[11] His career-best figures for an innings were 7 wickets for 119 runs against New Zealand in Wellington, in February 1994. ^[8]

Making his One Day International (ODI) debut in 1984 against New Zealand in Faisalabad, Akram's first ODI five-wicket haul came the following year against Australia in a match which Pakistan won at the MCG. ^[12] In 1989, he took five wickets in an innings, in a performance that included a hat-trick (three wickets in consecutive deliveries), against the West Indies. ^[13] His career-best bowling in ODI cricket was 5 wickets for 15 runs against Zimbabwe in Karachi, in December 1993. ^[8]

Retiring from international cricket in 2003 after nearly 20 years, ^[8] Akram took 25 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and 6 in ODIs. As of 2014, his position in the all-time lists for taking five wickets in an innings the most times is seventh overall in both Tests and ODIs. ^{[4] [5]}

Key

Tests

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	9 February 1985 * † ‡	Carisbrook, Dunedin	New Zealand	2	26.0	56	5	2.15	Geoff Howarth John Fulton Reid Martin Crowe Jeff Crowe Lance Cairns	Lost [10]
2	9 February 1985 * † ‡	Carisbrook, Dunedin	New Zealand	4	33.0	72	5	2.18	Geoff Howarth John Fulton Reid Jeff Crowe Ian Smith Brendon Bracewell	Lost [10]
3	24 October 1986 ‡	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	West Indies	2	25.0	91	6	3.64	Gordon Greenidge Roger Harper Malcolm Marshall Viv Richards Courtney Walsh Patrick Patterson	Won [14]
4	11 February 1987	Eden Gardens, Calcutta	India	1	31.0	96	5	3.09	Kris Srikkanth Dilip Vengsarkar Mohammed Azharuddin Raju Kulkarni Maninder Singh	Drawn [15]
5	9 December 1989	Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot	India	1	28.2	101	5	3.56	Kris Srikkanth Navjot Sidhu Sachin Tendulkar Kapil Dev Maninder Singh	Drawn [16]
6	12 January 1990 * † ‡	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Australia	1	30.0	62	6	2.06	Geoff Marsh David Boon Allan Border Peter Sleep Merv Hughes Terry Alderman	Lost [11]
7	12 January 1990 * † ‡	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Australia	3	41.4	98	5	2.35	Dean Jones Steve Waugh Peter Sleep Ian Healy Merv Hughes	Lost [11]
8	19 January 1990	Adelaide Oval	Australia	2	43.0	100	5	2.32	Geoff Marsh David Boon Steve Waugh Greg Campbell Carl Rackemann	Drawn [17]
9	6 December 1990	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	West Indies	3	9.0	28	5	3.11	Gus Logie Jeff Dujon Malcolm Marshall Curtly Ambrose Courtney Walsh	Drawn [18]
10	2 July 1992	Old Trafford, Manchester	England	2	36.0	128	5	3.55	Alec Stewart Michael Atherton David Gower Chris Lewis Ian Salisbury	Drawn [19]
11	6 August 1992 ‡	Kennington Oval, London	England	1	22.1	67	6	3.02	Alec Stewart Mark Ramprakash Chris Lewis Derek Pringle Neil Mallender Devon Malcolm	Won [20]
12	2 January 1993 ‡	Trust Bank Park, Hamilton	New Zealand	2	22.0	45	5	2.04	Blair Hartland Mark Greatbatch Danny Morrison Adam Parore Ken Rutherford	Won [21]
13	9 December 1993	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi	Zimbabwe	4	23.2	65	5	2.78	Grant Flower Guy Whittall Glen Bruk-Jackson Eddo Brandes Stephen Peall	Won [22]
14	10 February 1994 ‡	Eden Park, Auckland	New Zealand	3	16.1	43	6	2.65	Bryan Young Blair Pocock Andrew Jones Mark Greatbatch Simon Doull Michael Owens	Won [23]
15	17 February 1994 † ‡	Basin Reserve, Wellington	New Zealand	2	37.0	119	7	3.21	Bryan Young Andrew Jones Mark Greatbatch Shane Thomson Tony Blain Matthew Hart Simon Doull	Won [24]
16	9 August 1994	Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo	Sri Lanka	4	18.0	43	5	2.38	Sanath Jayasuriya Pubudu Dassanayake Kumar Dharmasena Pramodya Wickramasinghe Jayananda Warnaweera	Won [25]
17	28 September 1994	National Stadium, Karachi	Australia	3	22.0	63	5	2.86	Michael Bevan Steve Waugh Ian Healy Jo Angel Tim May	Won [26]
18	7 February 1995 ‡	Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo	Zimbabwe	3	22.3	43	5	1.91	Mark Dekker Alistair Campbell David Houghton Andy Flower Bryan Strang	Won [27]
19	8 September 1995 ‡	Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar	Sri Lanka	2	20.0	55	5	2.75	Sanjeeva Ranatunga Chamara Dunusinghe Chaminda Vaas Pramodya Wickramasinghe Muttiah Muralitharan	Won [28]
20	8 December 1995	Lancaster Park, Christchurch	New Zealand	2	24.5	53	5	2.13	Roger Twose Chris Cairns Lee Germon Dipak Patel Dion Nash	Won [29]
21	24 October 1996 † ‡	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	Zimbabwe	1	20.0	48	6	2.40	Grant Flower Mark Dekker David Houghton Guy Whittall Bryan Strang Pommie Mbangwa	Won [30]
22	27 November 1998	Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar	Zimbabwe	2	23.0	52	5	2.26	Gavin Rennie Alistair Campbell Neil Johnson Craig Wishart Henry Olonga	Lost [31]
23	25 May 2000 * † ‡	Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua	West Indies	2	26.2	61	6	2.31	Shivnarine Chanderpaul Ramnaresh Sarwan Ridley Jacobs Franklyn Rose Curtly Ambrose Reon King	Won [32]
24	25 May 2000 * † ‡	Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua	West Indies	4	30.0	49	5	1.63	Sherwin Campbell Adrian Griffith Wavell Hinds Ramnaresh Sarwan Reon King	Won [32]
25	14 June 2000 ‡	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo	Sri Lanka	3	15.3	45	5	2.90	Russel Arnold Arjuna Ranatunga Chaminda Vaas Nuwan Zoysa Dilhara Fernando	Won [33]

One Day Internationals

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	24 February 1985 †	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Australia	2	8	21	5	2.62	Kepler Wessels Robbie Kerr Dean Jones Allan Border Kim Hughes	Won [12]
2	14 October 1989 †	Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium	West Indies	2	9.4	38	5	3.93	Phil Simmons Jeff Dujon Malcolm Marshall Curtly Ambrose Courtney Walsh	Won [13]
3	26 December 1992 †	Basin Reserve, Wellington	New Zealand	2	9	19	5	2.11	Mark Greatbatch Rod Latham Andrew Jones Adam Parore Gavin Larsen	Won [34]
4	15 February 1993	Buffalo Park, East London	South Africa	2	6.1	16	5	2.59	Andrew Hudson Jonty Rhodes Errol Stewart Brian McMillan Allan Donald	Won [35]
5	24 December 1993 †	National Stadium, Karachi	Zimbabwe	1	7	15	5	2.14	Andy Flower Alistair Campbell Eddo Brandes Stephen Peall Heath Streak	Won [36]
6	16 February 2003 †	De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley	Namibia	2	9	28	5	3.11	Gavin Murgatroyd Louis Burger Deon Kotzé Gerrie Snyman Melt van Schoor	Won [37]

References

External links

• "Statistics / Statsguru / Wasim Akram / Test matches". Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
• "Statistics / Statsguru / Wasim Akram / One-Day Internationals". Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2009.