Imran Khan

A genuine fast bowler

A supreme and handsome athlete Imran Khan was born to the game with cousins Majid Khan and Javed Burki captaining Pakistan while he was growing up. He made his first-class debut at 16 and gave wider notice of his exceptional abilities at Worcestershire and Oxford University and established himself as an international player in the mid-1970s.

A genuine fast bowler he moved the ball both ways and possessed a devastating swinging yorker. He further developed at Sussex and with the World Series Cup troupe and throughout the 1980s competed with Ian Botham and Kapil Dev for the title of pre-eminent all-rounder. His figures of 12-165 gave Pakistan its first win in Australia in 1976-77 and his inspirational and autocratic captaincy paved the way for the World Cup triumph of 1992.

'...I had to devote about ninety percent of my time to bowling and keeping fit, while just ten percent was left over for batting. It's not often realised how much work goes into bowling consistently fast at the highest level over a period of years.' Imran Khan

'Captaincy is a matter of temperament and ability to understand individuals.' Imran Khan

The Stats

Pakistan became consistently competitive while Imran was in the side. His contributions with bat and ball frequently turned matches Pakistan's way and under his captaincy they became world beaters. His greatest legacy is that he showed the people of Pakistan the belief that they could be a competitive cricketing nation.

Did you know?

Over 30% of Imran's Test wickets were against batsmen with a batting average of 40 or more. He took Sunil Gavaskar's wicket 11 times.