He was nine when he decided to become a cricketer. His debut in 1971 was a failure and he was dropped from the team at the age of 18. He could not make a return for four long years and when he returned, after his graduation from Oxford in 1976, he started his first match with a duck, oops, another failure. His stubborn personality would not let him sit at ease. After that, he dreamt of becoming a fast bowler, for this purpose he had to completely remodel his bowling style. He would keep bowling all the day and when his fellows would get tired, he would go out to play with kids, that’s how he became the legendary fast bowler the world had dreaded during his hey days. He’s none other than one of the greatest prime ministers that Pakistan has ever produced, Imran Khan.
The cricketer-turned-politician had become a national hero after leading Pakistan to victory in 1992 World Cup.
He emerged on the political scenario in 1996 when he founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (the Justice Movement). His party could not make an impact until 2013, when the PTI was elected to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. And now, he’s the prime minister of Pakistan after winning the general elections of 2018.
He received his secondary education at Aitchison college in Lahore and later he went to England to get higher education at Keble College, Oxford. After that, the Royal Grammar School Worcester.
Imran Khan had established Pakistan’s first specialized cancer hospital, Shaukat Khanum, in 1991. The hospital is named after her mother who had died of cancer. In 2008, he had founded Namal college in Mianwali.
He first married to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a famous English billionaire, but their marriage ended in less than a decade. Then, he married to British-Pakistani journalist Reham Khan in January 2015, which ended on October 30, 2015. Now, he is married to Bushra Bibi.
The former skipper has been famous in Pakistan, India as well as England for his good looks and athletic talent.
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Imran Khan had entered the politics after being disappointed by the endemic corruption in Pakistan. He bagged his first National Assembly seat in 2002, while he had boycotted the 2008 general elections.
After taking oath as the 22nd PM of the country, on August 18 last year, he had said that he would muckrake.
“I started this struggle 22 years ago and thankfully today I have got a chance to fulfill what I dreamt for the country. We are going to uplift Pakistan’s poor and help our country’s labourers. We will run the country like it’s never been run before.”
Despite facing two biggest challenges — one of economic crisis and the other of intense tension with India — he is seen as an emerging world leader after his fiery UNGA speech.
It has been a long journey since the man who hopes to carve the history by uplifting the Muslim nation came to this world as he turns 67 today.
