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Imran Khan left out of PCB's tribute video

Wednesday, 16 August 2023


Former World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan has been left out of a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) commemoratory video, leaving Pakistan cricket fans outraged, report agencies.
Ostensibly released as part of celebrations for Pakistan's Independence Day, which falls on August 14, the video detailed some of the highlights of Pakistani cricket over the years, dating back to the nation's international debut in 1952.
Khan stands almost universally as the greatest cricketer the nation has ever produced, taking 362 Test wickets at an average of 22.81 while also scoring 3,807 runs at an average of 37.69 with six hundreds.
At his prime, his form and performances for Pakistan in the 1980s rank him third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.
The pinnacle of his career, as with Pakistan cricket generally, came in 1992, when he led the nation to the most unlikely of World Cup victories - his rousing "cornered tigers" speech stands in cricket folklore as the stuff of legend, and it stood alone as Pakistan's only ICC silverware until 2009.
Despite this, Khan was noticeably absent from the tribute video, with the only photos of the 1992 triumph leaving out the captain that took Pakistan to it.
Since retiring from cricket, Khan entered politics, founding the "anti-status quo" political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, serving for four years before being removed from office after a successful National Assembly vote of no-confidence in 2022.
While Khan claimed his removal was a "foreign conspiracy", he was later charged with corruption and having incorrectly declared details of presents from foreign dignitaries.
Khan was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, and barred for holding public office for five years.