Last Wednesday, October 5, one of the finest all-rounders of his time turned 70.
Imran Khan, who led Pakistan to its only World Cup title in 1992, took 362 Test wickets and 182 ODI wickets in a cricket career that lasted from 1971 to 1992. He also scored 3,807 Test runs and 3,709 ODI runs.
Glimpses from a legendary cricketer's glittering career:
IMAGE: Did you know Imran played hockey?
Imran, third from left, standing, as part of the Colts hockey team in the mid 1960s. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran made his first-class cricket debut in 1969 at the age of 16 in Lahore.
He also played for Oxford, where he went to university, Worcestershire, Pakistan International Airlines and Sussex before playing international cricket for Pakistan.
Here, Captain Intikhab Alam introduces Imran to Queen Elizabeth II before a Test match at Lords. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: On June 3, 1971, Imran made his Test debut against England at Edgbaston. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: 'Compromise for your dream, but never compromise on your dream'= -- Imran Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: 'Like many people I used to torment myself with regrets, obsessing about my mistakes in cricket, racking my brain about what I could have done differently.
'With faith I learned to let go of what had already happened.
'The past is only to learn from and not to live in.
'And the future is to be looked forward to and not feared' -- Imran Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran's Pakistan stretched the West Indies, the best Test team in the world in the 1980s. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran Khan bats for Sussex against his former English county team, Worcestershire, at New Road in Worcester in May 1981. Photograph:Adrian Murrell/Allsport/Getty Images
IMAGE: Lords, August 14, 1982, on Pakistan's 37th independence day, Pakistan won a Test against England after 28 years.
Imran Khan took 2 wickets in each innings as Pakistan won by 10 wickets. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran and Graham Dilley at the launch of the sports edition of the board game Trivial Pursuit, 1987. Photograph:Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
IMAGE: 'Never give up, no matter how hard life gets no matter how much pain you feel.
'Pain will eventually subside, nothing remains forever, so keep going and don't give up' -- Imran Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: 'Believe in yourself.
'Never settle for just ordinary' -- Imran Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran celebrates his birthday with team-mates; Wasim Raja lights the candle while Javed Miandad, to Imran's left, cheers the proceedings. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: 'It is not defeat that destroys you, it is being demoralised by defeat that destroys you' -- Imran Khan. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: January 2, 1992, Imran's last Test. Against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran was one of the quartet of magnificent all-rounders in the 1980s -- Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee were the others. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: The Benson and Hedges World Cup Final, March 25, 1992. Imran's final ODI at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran scored 72 during the final against England. Photograph:Allsport/Getty Images
IMAGE: Imran celebrates the moment of victory after Rameez Raja (not pictured) caught England batsman Richard Illingworth, right, to win the World Cup by 22 runs. Photograph:Joe Mann/Allsport/Getty Images
IMAGE: Imran and his team after winning the World Cup. Photograph: Kind courtesy imrankhan.pti/Instagram
IMAGE: Imran celebrates with team mates as Photographer David Munden looks on. Photograph:Tony Feder/Allsport/Getty Images
IMAGE: Imran celebrates the triumph with his team-mates in the dressing room. Photograph:Ben Radford/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive
IMAGE: World Cup winning Captains: Clive Lloyd of the West Indies (1975 and 1979); Allan Border of Australia (1987); Kapil Dev (1983); Imran Khan (1992); Arjuna Ranatunga of Sri Lanka (1996); Steve Waugh of Australia (1999) at an event ahead of the 2011 cricket World Cup in Mumbai, February 2, 2011. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com