Imran Khan is an extraordinary man. His cricket talent was so great in his time, that if his younger self joined the team today, he would still be considered a top-tier player. The cricket betting odds would eat him up!
Khan was a gracious player who ran like a gazelle but was as quick as a cheetah, and he did all these amazing natural movements with a charming smile.
Imran Khan’s Batting Career In Summary
Throughout his career, Kahn played in 88 test matches and 175 Open Day International matches. Between those two tournaments, he created a career total of 7,516 runs, for a batting average of 37.69 during the Test games and 33.41 in the Open Day Internationals.
Khan was a right-handed batter and although he did an amazing job of hitting far and running fast, Khan wasn’t considered a batter. Instead, he was an “all-rounder” but lead
closer to the bowling side.
Imran Khan’s Bowling Career In Summary
Khan’s bowling stats are jaw-dropping. If he was still playing our beautiful game, the sports betting odds would jump at the chance to count his bowling figures.
During his 88 Test matches, Khan bowled a whopping 18,644 times. In that time knocked down 362 wickets although he conceded 8,258 runs. But let’s do the maths here – 18,644 bowls and just 8,258 runs? Khan reduced over 10,000 runs during his time as a bowler and that’s just in the Test matches.
Imagine how the figures would change if we included all the other matches in his career.
Imran Khan In Summary
Khan long settled in Punjab but migrated to Pakistan with the rest of his family, generations before. Throughout Khan’s family tree, you’ll find multiple cricket players many of whom became professional cricketers for Pakistan.
Cousins such as Majid Khan and Javed Burki would have had a close relationship with Imran Khan. During his childhood, Khan was a shy boy. He grew up with a privileged education and an affluent lifestyle.
All of these factors helped Khan go to Cambridge University after originally being rejected.
His strong start in life meant that Khan could focus on his cricket skills, and focus he did.
Khan broke records such as hitting 10 wickets in a match 19 times in his career, winning Man of the Match 13 times, and entering the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame in 2010.
His Cricket Career
Khan started his professional career when he was just 16. There he played for his home team Lahore. Moving to England, Khan played for the University of Oxford for 2 seasons before moving to Worcestershire for 5 years.
Throughout his career, Khan played for Pakistani teams and English teams, sometimes during the same season.
As a bowler Khan used the same “chest-on” action every time he threw the ball. He wanted to perfect his classical methods, and in doing so Khan became the fastest bowler of his time.
During this 75 Test, Khan became known as an all-rounder as he earned the all-rounder’s triple achievement – 300 wickets and 3,000 runs.
Khan finished his career as the best ODI bowler in ODI history. This record hasn’t been broken yet.
His Captaincy
Before Khan was captain, the Pakistan team had never won the Test series. When Khan was captain, they changed this story. It happened in 1987, and then in 1988, they repeated this victorious motion by winning for the first time in England.
He was so impressed that when he decided to leave, the President of Pakistan asked him to rejoin. With Khan back on the team, Pakistan went on another winning tour.
His Controversy In Retirement
During retirement, Khan openly talked about tampering with the ball. He would lift the seams, and scratch the sides to make the ball less predictable for the batters.
He would openly comment on this rule-breaking method, but in the same breath would defend his actions saying that everyone did it, and the umpires didn’t mind.
When Khan mentioned other bowlers who did the same, they slammed him as a liar.
Imran Khan The Prime Minister of Pakistan
Although Khan’s political stance has nothing to do with Cricket we would be ignoring a large part of who he is if we failed to mention his Prime Minister status.
His mission in this leadership role was to balance the shrinking economy, which he achieved. Khan was also committed to renewable energy, giving religious freedoms to minorities, and removing contact with China after they allegedly built concentration camps for Muslims.
During Covid, Khan’s financial success dropped causing inflation to rise. This problem led to his “no-confidence” motion, removing him from office.
Final Thoughts
Imran Khan was a fantastic bowler. If you watch his matches back or just look at the statistics, you’ll see legendary performances in play.
Some might argue that ball tampering gave him an edge he didn’t deserve, but if everyone was doing it, the balance of fairness is still the same.
Maybe we should take his achievement with a pinch of salt. You decide.
