THE GREATEST OF ALL. Review on Imran Khan

CHARISMATIC & DASHING, A TEENAGE HEART-THROB AS WELL AS THE COMPLETE ALL ROUND CRICKETER ROLLED INTO ONE THAT'S IMRAN KHAN FOR YOU.

THE CHILD

Some people in this world are destined for greatness, Imran Khan is surely one of them. No celebrity or sportstar in Pakistan has ever enjoyed so much fame and respect as this man.

Imran Khan Niazi was Born: 25 November 1952, Lahore in a well to do Pathan family. His early days were spend in Lahore playing with his close cousins and watching the great Majid Khan. He did his intial Schooling in Lahore and

then went to Oxford for higher studies. He completed his education at Oxford. The ex-prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was his Colleague at Oxford. He went on to captain the university team.

THE PLAYER

Batting Style:Right Hand Bat

Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast

Imran Khan is regarded as the greatest all-rounder cricket has ever produced.

He made his debut in, Pakistan v England match at Birmingham, 1st Test, 1971 and since then this great player never looked back. He made his one-day debut in Pakistan v England at Nottingham, Prudential Trophy, 1974 . Imran Khan a great all-rounder was the first bowler to use the old ball very effectively.

He was capable of producing big swing due to his unique action, he could also produce deadly bouncers, which would surprise the best of batsman of his time. In the initial stage of his carrer he was very effective in partnership

with Sarfraz Nawaz and later with, the great left armer Wasim Akram. He was capable of destroying the opponents in a single burst of fiery spell of fast bowling at any point of time.

The Indians batsmen were the worst victims of this aggressive bowler from Lahore. They could never stand upto his pace and reverse swing even in India.

He was a stylish, hard-hitting bat, generally orthodox in his approach, but an effective improviser and hitter when situation demanded. He never lost his cool while batting and always played his game from mind.

Richard Hadlee, In his 1989 book, Rhythm and Swing, confidently tags him: The Best of the Age

THE LEADER

To be a great leader of men one must have the following qualities in him.

1. He should be able to move masses along with him.

2. He should be ahead of his contemporaries.

3. He should be able to motivate his fellowmen.

And the world has seen all this qualities in flesh and blood walking in the form of genius called IMRAN KHAN. Imran Khan had all this in abundance in him. The natural authority of a born leader of men came easily to this Pathan from Lahore.

There was no questioning Imran''''s leadership, he led from the front and each of his wins had the hallmarks of his indomitable personality. Imran always set high standard for his wards and for himself.

He always dreamed of big things in life and cricket. .

``An advantage of aiming high is that one is never satisfied with one's performance. This unfulfilled feeling always made me strive for improvement. The hardest thing was to impart my ambitious approach to the Pakistan team and to break through the negative attitudes that had prevailed for so long,'' writes Imran in his book.

His days at Oxford where he acquired professional virtues stood him in good stead when leading the ten ordinary players. He possessed a sharp eye and shrewd ability in spotting raw talent: be it Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Inzamamul Haq, he brought these average cricketers out of the wilderness and took all of them under his wing and guideand nurtured them to become world beaters.

Under his Leadership Pakistan's cricket moved from position of weakness to strength, beating India and England in a series in their own country for the first time and went on to win the most coveted tag that of ''World Cup Champions'' winning it in Australia in 1992. He was the man who got what he wanted, but in real terms, Imran's greatest triumph was the manner in which he beat the Pakistani cricket system - something that was fully dominated by

people of less talent and vision then himself. Though there were instances where one could argue his decision of selection. Players, but for him the interest of Pakistan cricket was the most important then his or others

personal records. As a true leader, he inspire many youngster of Pakistan to take up fast bowling, and now we all can see the flow of fast bowlers from my country, whereas our neighbor, India still could not produce a genuine fast bowler of International Standard. Imran was not only respected by his teammates, but was feared and given lot of respect for his knowledge of cricket.

All this qualities made Imran Khan the greatest modern day captains in the game. None and simply none can be compared to his Leading qualities by virtue of which he transformed a bunch of rookies to world-beaters.

THE SON

Imran Khan had always been very close to his mother, Shaukat Khanum and had enjoyed her support. She suffered from cancer, which was known to be a rich man's disease in Pakistan in that only well off people could afford to fly to Europe to receive the treatment. Inspite of flying to Cromwell Hospital in 1984, Shaukat Khanum died the following year in acute pain. He was by her side during her last days when she suffered terribly. He felt her pain but could not do anything for her. Imran's career was thus going through a changing phase.

When he retired from cricket he would build the first cancer hospital in Pakistan in honor of his mother. He then vowed to raise five million pounds to build and equip a hospital in Lahore, his home city for the poor people suffering from cancer. So to raise such big amount it was compulsory for Imran to be always in Limelight, and thus his come back to Pakistan team .

Pakistan had to win the World Cup if Imran's appeal was not to collapse. Imran had worked very hard to win the Cup, which he eventually did. He donated all his earnings from World cup to the cause of Cancer Hospital, his was the largest single donation to the hospital. After years of hard work, The Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital was inaugurated in December 1994, two years after the world cup win and six-year after his Mother''''s death. This project had meant to Imran more than anything in this world. Today the hospital runs on charity from all over the world and without the aid of Pakistani government

There is no other instance in human history where a single human being, a sportsman at that, who has staked his fame, fortune and future on such a humanitarian project.

THE POLITICIAN

After his retirement from cricket he started working for his cancer project and seeing his popularity the high profile politicians in Pakistan started feeling threaten and they just would not help him to fulfill his dream, thus the creation of a political party came into existence in April 1996, by name Tehrik-e-Insaaf to fight the corrupt system of Pakistan. This is one front where he was not successful as people thought, but his efforts to fight

corruption resulted in the current situation of many corrupt politicians of Pakistan. In future he will come out winner in politics as he has on number of previous occasion in his illustrious career.

I wish him all the best for his future life.

The Bottom Line is He is the Greatest Star from my country.