Imran Khan

TEST DEBUT
Thursday, 3rd June 1971 1st v. England at Edgbaston - Aged 18
TEST CAREER
Matches: 88
Runs: 3807 Ave: 37.69
Wkts: 362 Ave: 22.81
Catches: 28
Last Test: 1992 3rd v. Sri Lanka at Faisalabad


Imran is an ethnic Pashtun of the Niazi clan; the family has lived in Punjab for centuries, speaks Punjabi, and hence is considered Punjabi. Imran attended Aitchison College in Lahore until he finished middle school, then entered the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, before completing his formal schooling with an undergraduate degree in economics from Keble College, Oxford. While at University, Imran was also the captain of the Oxford University cricket team in 1974. He comes from a cricketing family, with two of his cousins Javed Burki and Majid Khan also having played Test cricket for Pakistan.

Imran is seen as one of the finest all-rounders the game has ever produced, along with Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee. He was one of the fastest bowlers of the world during the late 1970s and early 1980s and in the later half of his career, one of the best batsmen in the Pakistan team. More significantly, as a captain, he transformed the Pakistan team and moulded it into a unit, otherwise famous for lacking the discipline needed to harness the considerable talent.

Imran is not only known for his performances on the field but off the field as well. Labelled by some as an international playboy, Imran has had many high profile girlfriends both in England and Australia as well as the Sub-continent. Voted as the Sexiest Man of The Year in Australia, Imran has been linked to Susannah Costantine, ex-supermodel Marie Helving, artist Emma Sargeant and Bollywood film star Zeenat Aman.


Unimpressive debut
Imran made his Test debut against England at Birmingham in 1971 at the age of 18. His performance was unimpressive as his wayward medium pace bowling proved short of what was required at that level. By the end of the series, the senior cricketers in the team had written him off as a Test-standard cricketer.

Imran didn't return to Pakistan after the series and instead joined the Royal Grammar School Worcester. There was little progress in his career over the next two years because he struggled to get into the Worcestershire county team and the veterans of the team such as Glenn Turner and Norman Gifford encouraged him to concentrate on his batting as they felt that he did not have the potential of a fast bowler.

The turning point in Imran's career came in 1973, when his grades at school were good enough for admission to Oxford University. This gave him a chance to play regular domestic cricket, and the added responsibility of being the captain spurred him into becoming a better batsman as well as a better bowler.

Transformation into a fast bowler
Imran returned to the Pakistan cricket team briefly in 1974, but didn't do well enough to become a regular in the team. It was not until late in 1976, following a successful season with his county club, Worcestershire, that he was picked again for the national squad. His opponents were New Zealand, which included two of his former teammates from Worcestershire, John Parker and Glenn Turner. Imran picked them out for some hostile bowling, to prove to them that they were incorrect in their earlier assessment of his potential as a fast bowler.

At the beginning of 1977, Imran still reckoned himself to be a better batsman than bowler, a view not shared by the team. This changed dramatically in January 1977, when in a matter of few days during the three Test series in Australia, he was transformed from an erratic medium pacer to a fast bowler of genuine pace. Pakistan scored an expected win in the deciding match of the series, thanks largely to his 12 wickets haul. This rapid improvement was mentioned by Dennis Lillee in his autobiography: "He improved so much as the tour progressed that I couldn't recognize the finished product against what I had seen of him in England in 1975. At that stage of his career, Imran was if anything a better batsman than a bowler".

Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. The two years of intense cricket at World Series Cricket molded him into a more complete fast bowler. Under the guidance of John Snow and Mike Procter, his bowling action became side-on, totally different from his javelin thrower like action of the early 1970s. This new action helped him mix his stock in-swinging deliveries with the one that left the right hand batsman. His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world were further established when he finished third at a fast bowling contest at Perth in early 1979, behind Jeff Thompson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.

As the 1980s progressed, he began to reverse swing the old ball significantly, an art that was known to very few bowlers at that time. This was a skill that he passed on to his successors, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, at the end of the decade.

Captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team
Imran took over the captaincy of the Pakistan team from Javed Miandad in early 1982. Many who thought that this would adversely affect his cricket as had happened to Ian Botham, were sceptical about this move. But as was the case when he captained Oxford University, the extra responsibility helped him take his performances to a higher level.

His first year as the captain was the peak of his career as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. Imran topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in the three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he devastated the formidable Indian batting on the flat Pakistani wickets by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95.

By the end of the series against India in 1982-83, Imran had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year. His career took a severe blow towards the end of the the Test series against India, as he suffered from a stress fracture in the shin which kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistan government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the later part of the 1984-85 season.

Between 1985 and 1992, Imran led Pakistan to its first series win in England and India, as well as to three creditable draws against the West Indies. He was declared the "man of the series" for the series wins in England and India, as well as two of the drawn series against the West Indies, further strengthening his image of reaching his peak against the strongest opposition.

As a captain Imran's focus was on taking a lot of responsibility on himself or "leading from the front" as he described it, thereby setting standards for others to follow. This was contrary to the widely accepted norm of a good captain being more of a strategic planner, like England's Mike Brearley. His approach was very successful in getting the best out of the younger players of the team and the Pakistani cricket team achieved unprecedented success during this period, despite not having as brilliant a set of players as in the 1970s or the 1990s. However, he was often criticized by some in the media, as well as a few former players for being "authoritarian".

Imran was also notable for being the first cricketer to argue fervently in favor of neutral umpires. He led the initiative by asking for neutral umpires for the home series against West Indies in 1986-87 and 1990-91, as well as the home series against India in 1989-90.

World Cup 1992
Imran's ultimate moment of glory as a captain and cricketer came at the end of his career, when he led Pakistan to victory in the cricket World Cup 1992. The highlight of this win was the fact that Pakistan recovered from a very poor start, thanks largely to some young players in their team who had barely been heard of prior to the World Cup.

A combination of a shoulder injury that he carried through the tournament as well as differences with some senior members over the fact that many of the prizes (or rewards) were being garnered by Imran's charity hospital led to his retirement after the World Cup.