By Omair Alavi Pakistan Cricket owes a lot to Imran Khan; the man responsible for some of the biggest successes around the world during his playing career. Had he been a mediocre player (like was on debut), he might never have formed a political party and joined politics, let alone think about it. It…
SAMAA | Omair Alavi – Posted: Oct 5, 2017 | Last Updated: 4 years ago
By Omair Alavi
Pakistan Cricket owes a lot to Imran Khan; the man responsible for some of the biggest successes around the world during his playing career. Had he been a mediocre player (like was on debut), he might never have formed a political party and joined politics, let alone think about it. It was due to his stature as an all-rounder of repute, leader par excellence and a man of crisis that he served Pakistan Cricket for over 20 years. On his 65th birthday, let’s follow 6 of his performances, to sum up his career as someone who inspired as a Cricketer whenever he donned the Pakistan colours or whites.
The new Khan on the block
Don’t be surprised on watching the bowler in this clip because he is indeed Imran Khan or you can call him Imran Khan 1.0. He wasn’t much interested in batting or captaincy back then in 1975, neither had the leap in his run-up yet he brought the crowd to the stadium. He was 2 years away from becoming one of the best bowlers in the world and continued that tag until the end of his career with little injury gaps in between. In addition, women went mad at the sight of him and men wanted to be him, he was the rock star people were waiting for!
Imran Khan demolished India in 1982/83
Before they became the World Champions, Indians toured Pakistan and their famed batting line-up was demolished whenever Imran Khan had the ball in his hand. The Pakistan Captain finished the six-match series with 40 wickets that included 4 5 wickets in an innings and 2 10 wickets in a match.
Imran Khan Best ODI bowling
Imran Khan’s attitude didn’t change against the archrivals after they became World Champions; he took his career-best figures of 6 wickets for 14 runs against the Indian side in Sharjah. In fact, he accounted for Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and Madan Lal, their main players who had a great World Cup less than two years back.
Imran Khan shows England how it is done
Pakistan Cricket saw a rise in the late 80s under Imran Khan’s dynamic leadership – he could bowl as fast as anyone, he could bat whenever it was needed and he could control his team as, like the whole nation, they were in awe of him. He destroyed England’s famed batting line up in the 1987 series with his brilliant bowling and at Leeds took 10 wickets in Pakistan’s win by an innings and 18 runs.
Imran The Master Blaster
The West Indians were a famed bowling side against whom only the lionhearted could survive; Imran Khan not only stood in front of them but also scored boundaries that sort of defamed the Caribbean bowlers. He hit mighty sixes and fours that changed helped changed the mindset of his team who were usually defensive against the two-time World Champions. Not many would have believed had Imran told them that he would lift the World Cup in three years in the same Australia!
Imran Khan 92 World cup
And he saved the best for the last; Imran Khan led Pakistan to what can be termed as its biggest win ever by courageously playing against the best as the better side and going down at number 3 just to show his men how it is done. His immense experience in Australian conditions came in handy, as did some of the performances from his colleagues. It has been over 25 years now yet every time the highlights of that event are shown on TV, people forget their work and go back in time, mentally.
