January 31, 2016 was a very interesting day in the history of cricket. Pakistan were on a tour of New Zealand and the third ODI was played at Auckland. Pakistan took the field with Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz. It was the first time any team had picked four left-arm fast bowlers in an international match. It was a delightful mix. There was the awkwardness of Irfan, the sincerity of Riaz, the exuberance of Ali and the sheer brilliance of Amir. Yet Pakistan lost the match by 3 wickets on a pace-friendly wicket.

In contrast, Pakistan took the field with only one left-arm fast bowler on 25 March, 1992. That was at Melbourne in a world cup final. A left-arm fast bowler by the name of Wasim Akram took 3/49 and gave Pakistan its most glorious day on a cricket field. What Wasim did single handedly in 1992, four left-arm pace bowlers could not do together in 2016. This is the gap between Wasim Akram and any other left arm fast bowler to have played cricket for Pakistan. Ever since Wasim Akram retired there have been sixteen left arm fast bowlers who have represented Pakistan. There are some really talented people in this group of sixteen. There is the mercurial Mohammad Amir and the devastating Shaheen Shah Afridi, both world class bowlers. Also in this group are Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanveer who took more than hundred international wickets. Then there is the group of left-arm bowlers who played before Wasim. Who can forget Saleem Jaffer and his honest approach towards bowling. Then there was the unique Azeem Hafeez who was not even curtailed by the lack of two missing fingers on his right hand. Yet, it is Wasim Akram that overshadows every left-arm pace bowler that played before or after him. The reasons for this lie not just in cricketing skill but go way beyond it.

To understand Wasim Akram’s bowling one has to go beyond ordinary logic. The first unique thing about Wasim was his arm. Akram didn’t throw the ball during his bowling stride. He rolled it over. It’s a miracle how this roll of the arm generated so much pace off the wicket. It only goes on to show that fast bowling is more about rhythm than brute force. It was as if he had arms of rubber. If ever a fast bowler looked totally effortless in his delivery stride it was Wasim Akram.

The second unique thing about his bowling was that he could shorten his run up and increase his delivery speed. Only a rhythm bowler can do this. He is one bowler in whom you could not find any flaw. He is a rare bowler who never rushed into his bowling stride. It seemed as if he was floating into his bowling stride. Wasim’s best years in county cricket coincided with my years at university in England. I could not have been luckier. It appeared to me that Wasim was happiest bowling for Lancashire because of less pressure of international cricket. Representing subcontinent teams is not easy because the followers of the game can be irrational and expect too much from their cricket stars.

I was compelled to go to the ground and see him bowl in English county cricket. This was the third unique thing about Wasim Akram’s bowling. He was so soothing to watch that one was compelled to watch him bowl. It was like having a seat at the opera and watching a ballet dancer. It is a waste of time to recall the statistics of this great bowler. When it comes to Wasim Akram there are so many other important things to discuss.

We all have our favourite bowling spells of Wasim. My favourite one involves another great bowler called Shane Warne. This ball was bowled by Wasim during a charity match played in the memory of the great Shane Warne. Wasim was 56-years-old when he bowled this delivery. The pomp of Akram’s original run up was gone. He was now forced to release the ball by running just a few steps into his run up. Six and a half steps to be precise. The magical left shoulder ensured that the ball pitched as a perfect yorker and took the middle stump of one of the best defensive opening batsmen in the history of English cricket. This was the real class of Wasim Akram. It looked as if he bowled all his life with minimum input and maximum result. Wasim’s intelligence as a bowler was second to none. He had several varieties of bouncers. One that sprang up off a sudden length and brought forward short leg into play. The other was a high slow one that fooled the batsman with a catch at long leg or deep fine leg as a result of the ball coming late at the batsman.

Above all, Wasim Akram is unique because he is a cricket writer’s delight. As a writer one can use poetic words to describe his bowling. If fast bowling is an art then Wasim Akram is the biggest proof of it. The origins of cricket revolve around social pastime for joy. That is exactly what Wasim Akram gave every cricket lover.

The skills of certain cricketers are extraordinary. Wasim’s left arm is an ornament to the game of cricket. It is important to acknowledge and appreciate the greatness of such cricketers.

I recently turned 50 with the realisation that my days as a cricket spectator are coming to an end. I have watched over 150 Test matches on the ground. I have seen the game change. The new versions of the game are not as exciting for me. They have very little for bowlers. I doubt if I will ever see a bowler like Wasim Akram again. The sixteen left-arm bowlers that represented Pakistan after Wasim’s retirement were no doubt good but not good enough to be even close to the class of Wasim Akram.

– Kush Singh is a cricket historian and columnist and founder of The Cricket Curry Tour Company. He has attended close to two hundred Test matches all over the world