My Favorite Cricketer From Pakistan:Imran Khan

Imran Khan in my book is easily one of the five greatest cricketers of all time. As an all rounder he can be compared only to Gary Sobers. He was the best among the great all rounders of his time. In fact, Imran Khan is the best bowling all rounder of all time. Moreover, he is one the greatest captain of all time. No other all rounder of his class is known for leadership skills. If that is any pointer, Imran Khan can be regarded as joint greatest all rounder or even the greatest cricketer of all time with Gary Sobers.

Imran Khan was one of the best fast bowlers of his time. He excelled other great all rounder of his time either with the bat or the ball. He holds a distinct edge over all of them as a captain. Moreover his never say die attitude makes him the great that he is.

Pakistan dominated India in Imran Khan's tenure with Pakistan cricket as a player and a captain. The intensity of rivalry between Pakistan and India used to be altogether different levels in 70s and 80s. The relationship between two countries were at its worse. The pressure was certainly more on the players when playing each other in those acrimonious times. The game was getting more popular because of the spread of the television. The players were being watched on the television and that would add more pressure to the players. In those intense pressure cooker times, Imran Khan led Pakistan team their first test series against India in India. In one day cricket too, Pakistan dominated India during Imran Khan's time as a captain and as a player.

Apart from Pakistan dominating India during Imran Khan's time, the other distinct achievement of Imran Khan was Pakistan's test triumphs against the mighty West Indies in 1980, a team that is considered by the most as the greatest team of all time so far. Pakistan is the only team that drew two test series with the West Indies, and that happened under Imran Khan's leadership. Pakistan came close to winning a test series against West Indies in West Indies.

Imran Khan then rounded off his one day career with a World cup win in the year 1992, after being favorites and coming close in the year 1987 when they lost by a whisker in the semi-final against Australia. Imran Khan thus is one of most complete cricketers of all time, and easily one of the five greatest cricketers of all time.