Sultan: A Memoir

Sultan is the authorized biography of Wasim Akram, the legendary left-arm bowler and one of cricket's greatest survivors. It reveals the story of his rise to fame, his rivalries with cricket greats, and the personal struggles he faced, including the tragedy of his first wife's death and his battle with addiction.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 16 November 2022
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Sultan is the official biography of Wasim Akram, the Sultan of Swing, one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of cricket. For twenty years, Wasim Akram let his cricket do the talking – his electrifying left-arm pace, his explosive left-handed striking, his leadership, and his inspiration. For another twenty years, he kept his own counsel about those days, full of drama, controversy, and even mystery, in a country, Pakistan, that to outsiders is a constant enigma. Until now.

Sultan tells the story of cricket's greatest left-arm bowler and one of its greatest survivors, who was chosen from the streets of Lahore and groomed by Imran Khan to become the champion of the world – man of the match in the final of the 1992 World Cup. Along the way, there were unforgettable rivalries with the greatest of his time, from Viv Richards and Ian Botham to Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. Along the way, too, a backdrop of conspiracy and intrigue over ball tampering and match fixing, about which Wasim finally sets the story straight.

But there's more: Sultan goes frankly into the crumbling and rebuilding of Wasim's private life, marred by the tragedy of his first wife's death and the torment of addiction. The result is an unprecedented insight into the life of a cricketer who revolutionized the game with his speed and swing, and a patriot buoyed and burdened by the expectation of one of the game's most fanatical publics.

Weight: 606g
Dimension: 241 x 164 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781743798690