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.

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.

[36] For some years he was linked by the Indian media to former Miss Universe turned actress Sushmita Sen.[37] 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.

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."

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

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

He was a favourite of the local British fans, who used to sing a song called "Wasim for England" at Lancashire's matches.

In 1998, with Akram as captain, Lancashire won the NatWest Trophy and Sunday League and finished second in the County Championship, having lost only five matches in all competitions during the season.

On the third day, he got a chance; his performance convincing Javed Miandad to insist upon his inclusion in the national team.

[47] He rose to prominence by taking five wickets in his 3rd ODI against Australia in the 1985 Benson & Hedges World Championship.

The 1985–1986 Austral-Asia Cup involved Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and was played in Sharjah, UAE.

Pakistan won that game with more than 27 overs to spare, obtaining one of the biggest wins in Pakistani history.

[citation needed] In the 1988–89 Benson and Hedges World Series, Akram managed figures of 4 for 25 against Australia.

[45] Akram was a significant figure in the 1992 Cricket World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand when Pakistan won the tournament.

Wasim's great career was often tainted by controversy, not least in the Caribbean in April 1993, his maiden tour as Pakistan's captain.

During the team's stop-over in Grenada, he was arrested along with three teammates—Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed and Mushtaq Ahmed—and two female British tourists; he was charged with possession of marijuana.

"[65] However, he reconsidered his decision on the insistence of chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Khalid Mahmood.

[70] However, Pakistan failed to reach the super six of the tournament, and Akram was one of the eight players to be sacked by the PCB as a result.

Although this never happened, his dreams were realised to some extent, when Akram was appointed as the bowling coach cum mentor for the franchise.

[79] Akram has thus been playing a vital role in the grooming of Indian pacers like Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav, who owe their success in international cricket a lot to the bowling legend.

While working for the Kolkata Knight Riders, he was also responsible for the signing of Pakistani domestic left-arm fast-bowler Mohammad Irfan.

[80] Akram has also been coaching in Pakistan fast bowling camps, his most notable discovery being the teenage Pakistani bowlers Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan.

Akram was a man possessed of accurate control of line and length, accompanied by seam and swing bowling skills, extended to both inswingers and outswingers.

As well as often being able to find the edge of the bat, Akram would also focus his bowling attack on the stumps and had a particularly lethal inswinging yorker.

In October 1996 he scored 257 runs not out, of the team's total of 553 against lowly Zimbabwe on a typical flat South Asian pitch at Sheikhupura.

His batting was also valuable sometimes to the Pakistan ODI side, such as in the Nehru Cup in 1989, when needing six runs in two balls to win the match, he hit the first delivery he faced, from part-time off-spinner and batting legend, Viv Richards, for a six and secured the cup.

West Indian batting great Viv Richards rates Akram as best fast bowler he ever faced after Dennis Lillee.

[94] To mark 150 years of the Cricketers' Almanack, Wisden named him in an all-time Test World XI.

It is only by giving Wasim Akram the benefit of the doubt after Ata-ur-Rehman changed his testimony in suspicious circumstances that he has not been found guilty of match-fixing.

He cannot be said to be above suspicion.Akram's autobiography, titled Sultan: A Memoir, co-authored by cricket writer Gideon Haigh, was published in 2022 by HarperCollins.