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Pride of Pakistan: Imran Khan
To supplement Independence Day celebrations, the Daily Times will highlight, all of August, the individuals who continue to make Pakistan proud. Our 14th feature is on the former cricket world champion captain, ace philanthropist-turned politician Imran Khan
A person whose name needs no introduction, has brought nothing less than pride and laurels to his country, be it in the capacity of a sportsman or a dedicated humanitarian.
Now, being the member elect of the National Assembly, as well as the chairperson of his party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan has only gone from strength to strength during his life as a professional.
Previously, he was a MNA from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2018. He played international cricket for two decades and later developed philanthropic projects such as Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre and Namal College.
Khan was born in Pashtun family in Lahore in 1952 and was educated at Aitchison, Worcester, and later at Keble College, Oxford.
Maternally, Khan is also a descendant of the Sufi warrior-poet and inventor of the Pashto alphabet, Pir Roshan, who hailed from his maternal family’s ancestral Kaniguram town located in South Waziristan in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan.
He started playing cricket at the age of only 13. Initially playing for his college and later for the Worcestershire Cricket Club, he made his debut for the Pakistan national cricket team at the age of 18 during the 1971 series against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. After graduating from Oxford, Khan made his home debut for Pakistan in 1976 and played until 1992. Khan also served as the team’s captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992.
He, notably, led Pakistan to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan’s first and only victory in that competition.
His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to become established when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.
A person whose name needs no introduction has brought nothing less than pride and laurels to his country, be it in the capacity of a sportsman or a dedicated politician
Although calculated retrospectively, Khan’s form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC’s All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.
Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham’s 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order.
As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world’s fourth bowler to do so.
His best ODI bowling is documented at six wickets for 14 runs, a record for the best bowling figures by any bowler in an ODI innings in a losing cause.
Khan’s first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking eight wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–1982.
He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95.
In India in 1987, Khan led Pakistan in its first-ever Test series win and this was followed by Pakistan’s first series victory in England during the same year.
During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies.
In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by late president of Pakistan General Ziaul Haq, and on January 18, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.
Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as “the last time I really bowled well”.
He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in three Tests.
Khan’s career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
He retired from cricket in 1992 as one of Pakistan’s most successful players. In total he made 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test cricket and is one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches.
He was later, in 2010, inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India’s Outlook magazine, theGuardian, the Independent and the Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network.
In 1991, he launched a fundraising campaign to set up a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. He raised $25 million to set up a hospital in Lahore in 1994 and later in 2015 a second hospital in Peshawar.
Khan remains a prominent philanthropist and commenter, and served as the chancellor of Bradford University between 2005 and 2014 and was the recipient of an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians in 2012. The university vice-chancellor Brian Cantor said Khan had been “a wonderful role model for our students”.
In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports’ special live show ‘Straight Drive’ while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for the BBC during the 1999 World Cup.
He holds as a captain the world record for taking most wickets, best bowling strike rate and best bowling average in Test and best bowling figures in a Test innings and also most five-wicket hauls in a Test innings in wins.
During the 1990s, Khan also served as the United Nations Children’s Fund Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.
Khan focused his efforts solely on social work.
Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project ‘Lighting a Million Lives’. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.
In 1996, Khan founded PTI, a centrist political party, and became the party’s national leader.
He was again elected to the parliament in the 2013 elections, when his party emerged as the second largest in the country by popular vote.
Khan serves as the parliamentary leader of the party and led the third largest block of parliamentarians in the National Assembly from 2013 to 2018. His party also leads a coalition government in north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khan remains a popular political figure and is the author of, among other publications Pakistan – a Personal History.
In 2010, a Pakistani production house produced a biographical film based on Khan’s life, titled ‘Kaptaan – The Making of a Legend’. The film depicts Khan’s captaincy and career with the Pakistan cricket team which led them to victory in the 1992 cricket world cup, as well as events which shaped his life, from the tragic death of his mother to his efforts and endeavours in building the first cancer hospital in Pakistan; from being the first Chancellor of the University of Bradford to the building of Namal University.
Khan has published six works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy.
Achievements
KING OF VERSATILITY
Imran Khan has had his fair share of struggles but has ultimately come out victorious in everything he has touched. From being the top scorer in cricket, to a highly successful philanthropist and later a politician, Imran Khan has proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
WORLD CRICKET CHAMPION
Khan’s credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to become established when he finished third in a fast bowling contest in 1978. As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. Khan’s form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC’s All-Time Test Bowling Rankings. Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple in 75 Tests. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average for a Test batsman. Khan’s first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988. Khan’s career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
A DEDICATED PHILANTHROPIST
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF’s Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust’s maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. In 2008, Khan established a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College. It was built by the Mianwali Development Trust and is an associate college of the University of Bradford in 2005. Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project ‘Lighting a Million Lives’. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.
RAKING IN THE AWARDS
Khan is the proud recipient of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award and honour bestowed by the government. In 1983, he received the president’s Pride of Performance award. He has also won the Cricket Society Wetherall Award, the Wisden Cricketer of the Year, the Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year, the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year and the Inaugural Silver Jubilee award, Asian Cricket Council, Karachi. He is the Keble College, Oxford, honorary fellow. He got the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Asian Jewel Awards in 2004. He got the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in 2007. He also has a Jinnah Award which he got in 2011.
Published in Daily Times, August 14th 2018.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/282884/pride-of-pakistan-imran-khan/amp/
To supplement Independence Day celebrations, the Daily Times will highlight, all of August, the individuals who continue to make Pakistan proud. Our 14th feature is on the former cricket world champion captain, ace philanthropist-turned politician Imran Khan
Now, being the member elect of the National Assembly, as well as the chairperson of his party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan has only gone from strength to strength during his life as a professional.
Previously, he was a MNA from 2002 to 2007 and again from 2013 to 2018. He played international cricket for two decades and later developed philanthropic projects such as Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre and Namal College.
Khan was born in Pashtun family in Lahore in 1952 and was educated at Aitchison, Worcester, and later at Keble College, Oxford.
Maternally, Khan is also a descendant of the Sufi warrior-poet and inventor of the Pashto alphabet, Pir Roshan, who hailed from his maternal family’s ancestral Kaniguram town located in South Waziristan in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan.
He started playing cricket at the age of only 13. Initially playing for his college and later for the Worcestershire Cricket Club, he made his debut for the Pakistan national cricket team at the age of 18 during the 1971 series against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham. After graduating from Oxford, Khan made his home debut for Pakistan in 1976 and played until 1992. Khan also served as the team’s captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992.
He, notably, led Pakistan to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan’s first and only victory in that competition.
His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to become established when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts.
A person whose name needs no introduction has brought nothing less than pride and laurels to his country, be it in the capacity of a sportsman or a dedicated politician
Although calculated retrospectively, Khan’s form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC’s All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.
Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham’s 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order.
As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world’s fourth bowler to do so.
His best ODI bowling is documented at six wickets for 14 runs, a record for the best bowling figures by any bowler in an ODI innings in a losing cause.
Khan’s first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking eight wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–1982.
He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95.
In India in 1987, Khan led Pakistan in its first-ever Test series win and this was followed by Pakistan’s first series victory in England during the same year.
During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies.
In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by late president of Pakistan General Ziaul Haq, and on January 18, he announced his decision to rejoin the team.
Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as “the last time I really bowled well”.
He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in three Tests.
Khan’s career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
He retired from cricket in 1992 as one of Pakistan’s most successful players. In total he made 3,807 runs and took 362 wickets in Test cricket and is one of eight world cricketers to have achieved an ‘All-rounder’s Triple’ in Test matches.
He was later, in 2010, inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India’s Outlook magazine, theGuardian, the Independent and the Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network.
In 1991, he launched a fundraising campaign to set up a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. He raised $25 million to set up a hospital in Lahore in 1994 and later in 2015 a second hospital in Peshawar.
Khan remains a prominent philanthropist and commenter, and served as the chancellor of Bradford University between 2005 and 2014 and was the recipient of an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians in 2012. The university vice-chancellor Brian Cantor said Khan had been “a wonderful role model for our students”.
In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports’ special live show ‘Straight Drive’ while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for the BBC during the 1999 World Cup.
He holds as a captain the world record for taking most wickets, best bowling strike rate and best bowling average in Test and best bowling figures in a Test innings and also most five-wicket hauls in a Test innings in wins.
During the 1990s, Khan also served as the United Nations Children’s Fund Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity.
Khan focused his efforts solely on social work.
Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project ‘Lighting a Million Lives’. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.
In 1996, Khan founded PTI, a centrist political party, and became the party’s national leader.
He was again elected to the parliament in the 2013 elections, when his party emerged as the second largest in the country by popular vote.
Khan serves as the parliamentary leader of the party and led the third largest block of parliamentarians in the National Assembly from 2013 to 2018. His party also leads a coalition government in north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khan remains a popular political figure and is the author of, among other publications Pakistan – a Personal History.
In 2010, a Pakistani production house produced a biographical film based on Khan’s life, titled ‘Kaptaan – The Making of a Legend’. The film depicts Khan’s captaincy and career with the Pakistan cricket team which led them to victory in the 1992 cricket world cup, as well as events which shaped his life, from the tragic death of his mother to his efforts and endeavours in building the first cancer hospital in Pakistan; from being the first Chancellor of the University of Bradford to the building of Namal University.
Khan has published six works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy.
Achievements
KING OF VERSATILITY
Imran Khan has had his fair share of struggles but has ultimately come out victorious in everything he has touched. From being the top scorer in cricket, to a highly successful philanthropist and later a politician, Imran Khan has proved to be a force to be reckoned with.
WORLD CRICKET CHAMPION
Khan’s credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to become established when he finished third in a fast bowling contest in 1978. As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. Khan’s form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC’s All-Time Test Bowling Rankings. Khan achieved the all-rounder’s triple in 75 Tests. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average for a Test batsman. Khan’s first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988. Khan’s career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
A DEDICATED PHILANTHROPIST
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF’s Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust’s maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan’s first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. In 2008, Khan established a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College. It was built by the Mianwali Development Trust and is an associate college of the University of Bradford in 2005. Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project ‘Lighting a Million Lives’. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.
RAKING IN THE AWARDS
Khan is the proud recipient of the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the second highest civilian award and honour bestowed by the government. In 1983, he received the president’s Pride of Performance award. He has also won the Cricket Society Wetherall Award, the Wisden Cricketer of the Year, the Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year, the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year and the Inaugural Silver Jubilee award, Asian Cricket Council, Karachi. He is the Keble College, Oxford, honorary fellow. He got the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Asian Jewel Awards in 2004. He got the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in 2007. He also has a Jinnah Award which he got in 2011.
Published in Daily Times, August 14th 2018.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/282884/pride-of-pakistan-imran-khan/amp/
