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Monday, July 13, 2009

LIFE OF IMRAN KHAN


Full name Imran Khan Niazi
Born 25 November 1952 (age 56)
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Role All-rounder
International information
National side Pakistan
Test debut (cap 65) 3 June 1971 v England
Last Test 7 January 1992 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 12) 31 August 1974 v England
Last ODI 25 March 1992 v England
Domestic team information
Years Team
1977 – 1988 Sussex
1984/85 New South Wales
1975 – 1981 PIA
1971 – 1976 Worcestershire
1973 – 1975 Oxford University
1969 – 1971 Lahore
Imran Khan Niazi (Urdu: عمران خان نیازی) (born 25 November 1952) is a retired Pakistani cricketer who played international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and has been a politician since the mid-1990s. Currently, besides his political activism, Khan is also a charity worker and cricket commentator.
Khan played for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and served as its captain intermittently throughout 1982-1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup, he was called back to join the team in 1988. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of six world cricketers to have achieved an 'All-rounder's Triple' in Test matches.[1]
In April 1996, Khan founded and became the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice), a small and marginal political party, of which he is the only member ever elected to Parliament.[2] He represented Mianwali as a member of the National Assembly from November 2002 to October 2007.[3] Khan, through worldwide fundraising, helped establish the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in 1996 and Mianwali's Namal College in 2008.
Family, education, and personal life

Imran Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in a middle-class family with four sisters.[4] Settled in Punjab, Khan's father descended from the pashtun Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali.[5] His maternal family includes successful cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan.[5] Khan was educated at Aitchison College, the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics.[6]
During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol.[5][2][7][8] He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.[5] One of these ex-girlfriends, the British heiress Sita White, daughter of Gordon White, Baron White of Hull, became the mother of his alleged illegitimate daughter. A judge in the U.S. ruled him to be the father of Tyrian Jade White, but Khan has denied paternity.[9][10] About his lifestyle as a bachelor, he has often said that, "I never claim to have lead an angelic life."[5]
On 16 May 1995, Khan married English socialite Jemima Goldsmith, a convert to Islam, in a two-minute Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey.[11] The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan,[5] produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999).[12] As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan".[13]
Veteran journalist Khalid Hasan reported in 2008 that Khan, beside regularly dying his hair, has had a hair transplant.[14] Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.[5] Khan is also reported to be in regular contact with Tyrian Jade Khan-White, his alleged daughter whom he has never publicly acknowledged
Cricket career

Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969-70), Lahore B (1969-70), Lahore Greens (1970-71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970-71).[16] Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973-75 seasons.[6] At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975-76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975-76 to 1980-81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.[1]
In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham. Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976-77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia.[16] Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.[1].His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish 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.[1]. Khan also achieved a Test Cricket Bowling rating of 922 points against India on 30 January 1983. Highest at the time, the performance ranks third on ICC's All Time Test Bowling Rating.[17].
Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) 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.[18] He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia.[19] He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so.[1] In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs.

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