By Shahid Hashmi For BBC Sport Online in Lahore

Pakistan all-rounder Wasim Akram is to bid farewell to the game after the next year's World Cup.

"I don't think there can be a better occasion to say adieu than the World Cup," Wasim told BBC Sport Online.

"If Pakistan wins that will add to my farewell and I get the same honour as my mentor Imran Khan got in 1992."

Few would challenge his credentials. His 414 wickets in 104 Tests and a record 459 victims from 331 one-dayers sees him stand tall in international cricket.

His career has been haunted by match fixing allegations, marijuana smoking charges in the West Indies, revolt against his captaincy and bickering with team-mates.

Yet it earned fame for the 36-year old from Lahore.

"I had my moments but I enjoyed it and I would love to do it all again," he said.

Many believed Wasim's career was over when he was only included at the last minute for Pakistan's tour of England last year.

But the pugnacious pace man resurrected he career through will-power.

"I had to fight throughout my career, with allegations, diabetes and many other things.

"But in the end, my wife and my parents helped me lift myself."

Wasim hit the headlines at an age of only 18 with a 10-wicket haul in his second Test against New Zealand at Dunedin in 1984-85.

That was followed by figures of 5-21 against Australia in a tournament involving all seven Test nations at the time.

"That moment I still cherish, he recalls. "Just 19 years old and playing in the toughest of countries, the adulation I got was fascinating."

"That had always been my intention when I started cricket on the streets of Dharampura in Lahore and I am thankful to Almighty that I achieved that."

World Cup victory in 1992 remains his most cherished moment, though.