The Disgraceful Snubbing Of The Legendary Imran Khan
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
19 August
2023
PCB's
'omission' of the legendary Imran Khan Niazi from its promotional video clip is
not just disgraceful, it underlines the overwhelming ill-effect of politics on
sports and all other fields. The man may be incarcerated by the current
political regime and the Army, but can Pakistan, or for that matter the entire
cricketing world, ever forget the contributions of this great cricketer? One of
the greatest all rounders in the history of cricket, Imran is easily the
greatest cricketer emerging from Pakistan. Pakistan lifted the World Cup trophy
under his astute stewardship in 1992.
Imran Khan
----
Those
who've seen Imran play during his heydays will vouch for the fact that the man
had something very special that distinguished him from the lesser mortals and
his peers. Like the Australian greats Keith Miller, Shane Warne and West Indian
legend Sir Garfield Sobers, Imran was also a flamboyant character, who gave his
cent percent on the field.
Who can
forget his extremely fast in-dippers and banana in-swingers that ended the Test
career of Gundappa Vishwanath in India's tour to Pakistan in 1982? He was
simply unplayable on that tour and barring Sunil Gavaskar, all other Indian
batsmen meekly capitulated. Whether playing for Pakistan, Lahore, Sussex or New
South Wales in Australia, Imran's imperious presence made all the difference.
He was an excellent leader, though a correspondingly failed leader in political
context.
He was
arguably the only pacer in the history of cricket who'd applaud a good shot off
his bowling. Richie Benaud, Sobers, Bishen Singh Bedi and Frank Worrell would
also acknowledge and openly clap when the batsmen would hit them for fours and
sixes, but they were not express bowlers. Imran was a genuine pacer and pacers
are aggressive by nature. Hit them for a boundary. They may curse and abuse or
at least stare at you, whether it was Lillie, Thomson, Marshall, Holding or
MaCgrath. But Imran was different. Cricketers, fielders and even spectators saw
him smile and applaud on the field. He used the choicest Punjabi cuss words for
his players but never abused his opponents while playing cricket. Who can
forget that incident when he called back 'crying' Krishnamachari Srikant when
he was given out?
That the
same Imran changed when he jumped into the arena of politics and did all sorts
of idiocy is different because politics is an altogether different ball-game.
What he has done and 'achieved' as a politician is for everyone to see. He made
a mess of his life. But one must never forget that he was a cricketing genius
and shall remain so.
I'm a bit
surprised that the whole cricketing fraternity is silent over his ongoing
predicament. Why is Gavaskar silent? Imran holds Sunny in high esteem and calls
him (Gavaskar) his buddy. Perhaps, priorities change as one grows old.
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/disgraceful-snubbing-legendary-imran-khan/d/130478
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism