Imran Khan taught Pakistan reverse swing and won its first World Cup
Pakistan had never won the Cricket World Cup until 1992, when its captain, Imran Khan, top-scored with 72 in the final and took the winning wicket himself. It capped a career that had already reshaped Pakistani fast bowling and pushed international cricket toward neutral umpires.
Born in Lahore on 5 October 1952, Khan played first-class cricket at 16 and made his Test debut against England at Edgbaston in June 1971. He went on to read philosophy, politics and economics at Keble College, Oxford, graduating in 1975 and earning a Blue with the university side. County cricket followed with Worcestershire and, from 1983 to 1988, Sussex, and by 1977 he had signed up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.
Khan picked up reverse swing from Sarfraz Nawaz and passed it on to Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Between January 1980 and 1988 he took 236 Test wickets at 17.77 apiece, figures that stand comparison with Richard Hadlee and Malcolm Marshall. During the 1982–83 series against India he claimed 40 wickets, and in January 1983 he joined Ian Botham as only the second player to combine a hundred with 10 wickets in one Test.
Named captain in 1982, he led Pakistan to its first Test win in England for 28 years, at Lord's that summer. In 1987 came first series victories in India and in England. He retired after that year's World Cup, then returned at the request of General Zia-ul-Haq. Weary of complaints about home umpiring, he invited Indian officials to stand in a 1986 Test against West Indies, a push that fed into the 1994 rule requiring one neutral umpire.
Across 48 Tests in charge Pakistan won 14 and lost only 8, and he still holds the records for most Test wickets and most five-wicket hauls by a captain. At the 1992 World Cup, after defeat by South Africa left the side at a low point, he urged his players to fight like cornered tigers. He retired after the final, entered the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009, and later served as Pakistan's prime minister from 2018 to 2022.
Source: Imran Khan
