Wasim Akram has joined those to criticise the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for creating and posting a tribute video to several influential figures in Pakistani cricket that included almost no reference to Imran Khan, one of their greatest captains.
Khan, who served as Pakistan’s Prime Minister from 2018 until April 2022, has recently been sentenced to a three-year jail term on corruption charges, though Khan maintains that the charges are politically motivated.
In a video posted on Twitter, the PCB told the history of Pakistani cricket from 1952 through to the present day, including highlighting Pakistan’s World Cup victories in 2010 and 1992. However, Khan, who captained Pakistan in their 1992 World Cup triumph, is shown for less than a second in the video as that section ends.
Thousands of accounts have criticised the apparent snub, with Akram, one of the country’s greatest fast bowlers, among the most high-profile.
https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB/status/1691091543350771712
“After long flights and hours of transit before reaching Sri Lanka, I got the shock of my life when I watched PCB’s short clip on the history of Pakistan cricket minus the great Imran Khan…” he tweeted. “Political differences apart but Imran Khan is an icon of world cricket and developed Pakistan into a strong unit in his time and gave us a pathway… PCB should delete the video and apologise.”
After long flights and hours of transit before reaching Sri Lanka, I got the shock of my life when I watched PCB’s short clip on the history of Pakistan cricket minus the great Imran Khan… political differences apart but Imran Khan is an icon of world cricket and developed…
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) August 16, 2023
Khan is recognised as perhaps Pakistan’s greatest ever captain, and one of the finest all-rounders in cricket history. He averaged 38 with the bat and 23 with the ball in 88 Tests, including averaging 52 and 20 respectively as captain.
His leadership at the 1992 World Cup is famed, with Pakistan winning just one of their first five games but all of their next five as the ‘Cornered Tigers’ – a moniker coined by Khan – surged to the title.
