Imran Khan Niazi

Imran Khan Niazi is unarguably the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced. His greatest feat was winning the Cricket World Cup in 1992 at Melbourne after defeating England. He was enormously talented, erudite and suave which resulted in him becoming the biggest heart throb. During the 1970s and 1980s, he gave cricket a real sex appeal in the Indian sub-continent.

In Test cricket, he finished with averages of 37 with the bat and 22 with the ball. This puts him at the top of the four all rounders (Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan) who dominated cricket during the 1980s. Imran just got better and better as the days passed. During his last 10 years of international cricket, he took the opportunity of playing in 51 Test matches and had an average of 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball.

After retirement from cricket, he married the socialite Jemima Goldsmith and remained a high profile figure. His move into Pakistan politics was not an entirely successful one.

Career Highlights

Imran Khan appeared in 175 ODIs and in these bowled 7461 deliveries and took 182 wickets while conceding 4844 runs. His economy rate was 3.89, bowling average was 26.61 and bowling strike rate was 40.9. He scored 3709 runs with 102 not out as his highest score. His batting strike rate was 72.65 and he hit 19 fifties and took 36 catches.