Imran Khan
Page 51
To accuse Imran of persistence would be like accusing Stalin of show trials or Bill Clinton of priapism. It’s the very heart and essence of his being. Some people think both his message and his speaking style a shade on the monotonous side, but no one doubts his resilience or his personal fortitude. Although he’s taken to sometimes wearing a bulletproof vest when appearing in public because of what happened to Benazir Bhutto, ‘It won’t do you any good if they blow you up,’ he acknowledges blandly. ‘It doesn’t matter what precautions you take, they prepare accordingly. Benazir had security. Her brother had two wagon loads of commandos. Not one moved. All of them were shot dead.’
If personally unassuming, he was also the head of a large, hierarchical organisation. An advance-ticket seller at Lord’s assured me that he had once taken a call in which an imperious woman’s voice had ordered ‘“Two seats for Sardar Khan, please.” Sardar Khan, indeed. The next day I looked up and saw a familiar face at the window. I said, “Oh, hello Immy. How’ve you been keeping?” We chatted away. Smashing bloke. Very down to earth. He wasn’t any “Sardar Khan” to me.’
For her readers on the Daily Telegraph, Elizabeth Grice described the middle-aged Imran as ‘lean and deeply creased, but still recognisable as the leonine figure of old’. The Jaggeresque haircut survived (the result, according to the journalist Khalid Hasan, of some discreet transplant surgery), which along with the bespoke Savile Row suits contributed to a sleeker personal style than might have been thought from some of his public remarks of late. At first glance, he could have been taken for someone who made a living on the entrepreneurial fringes of the pop-music industry. It was when he took off his sunglasses and propped them up in his hair that you noticed the dark eyes and intense face that looked as though it had its worries. When he smiled, which he did rarely, it was an ‘electrifying experience’, even the unsentimental General Zia had once allowed; ‘the space all around him was physically brightened.’ Imran’s voice was a slow, rich, full-bodied instrument that sounded as though it had spent years marinating in port. One journalist wrote that he spoke ‘in the measured tones of someone used to being listened to’. Overall, at 56, he remained quite a formidable proposition.
The reaction to Imran’s stubborness, or principled intransigence, at least among non-partisan voters, was mixed. Karachi’s Friday Times ran a regular feature satirising him as ‘Im the Dim’, while by mid-2009 he was able to enjoy an unusually well-designed and continually refreshed website dedicated to his activities. Called ‘Khan Artist’, it was a paean to Imran’s alleged shallowness and hypocrisy. (The authors of the site might well have benefited from the services of a good fact-checker.) Elsewhere the conventional wisdom was that after 13 years and three elections Imran remained a political outsider (a description he might not have shunned), whose enormous fame had never quite converted into the constantly predicted national breakthrough. Thus, said Today, the reason he attracted even such support as he did was ‘simply down to his residual glory as Asia’s greatest ever sportsman’. But a funny thing happened whenever Imran addressed a rally or even a spontaneous public meeting, as he did in the main square in Peshawar on a cold December evening in 2008. On that occasion he spoke for no more than six minutes, employed few rhetorical flourishes, and other than appealing for more recruits to the Tehreek-e-Insaf, said little of substance. Several thousand spectators cheered him wildly, and a cursory glance around the audience, most of whom were in their teens or twenties, suggested that they were there to do something more than merely salute a cricketer who had retired nearly two decades earlier. It was the searingly obvious moral conviction that came through, and the equally unmistakable dedication to the job in hand. During the evening’s follow-up speeches, which lasted an hour and three-quarters, Imran politely declined a seat and stood to one side in the steady rain, frequently waving his cap, nodding and clapping enthusiastically. When he finally left the scene there was a long roar of appreciation from the crowd, which went on for more than 20 minutes after he was no longer there to enjoy it. President Zardari had never been cheered like this.
Though politics was Imran’s consuming passion, it still wasn’t his whole being. Seeing his sons’ interest in the game, he laid them out a cricket pitch at his 14-hectare (35-acre) mountainside farm, where he enjoyed the ‘crystal clear days and cold, still nights’, sometimes broken by the sound of jackals. The place was about as good a refuge as he could hope for from the thunderous events of recent years in Pakistan. A journalist once asked Imran a rather leading question about his social life, and after a pause he responded: ‘It’s basically just me and my boys up there on top of the plateau, which I like to call my paradise.’ Then he smiled.
* The president failed to mention it, but before coming to his decision to ‘unequivocally’ support the US, he and his chiefs of staff had first war-gamed the Americans as an adversary. The Pakistani forces would be ‘obliterated’ in any real-life conflict, they rapidly concluded, a significant factor when it came to forming the country’s new strategic alliance.
* After another week’s haggling, the president then located the moderate Mr Jamali, a sometime hockey administrator who was thought more congenial to himself.
* I contacted General Musharraf in 2008 to ask him for his side of this story; he declined to comment.
* After a series of concerns had been raised about the performance of match officials such as Steve Bucknor and Darrell Hair, the PCB now announced that it was considering scrapping Imran’s hard-won system of appointing ‘neutral’ umpires in favour of those considered the best at the job. A full revolution on the subject had brought the board in a circle.
* A member of President Musharraf’s staff who had lived in London for several years in the 1960s and acquired a taste for British satire told me that, ‘The way [Imran] carried on always reminded one a bit of the Peter Cook sketch about Greta Garbo going around the place shouting through a megaphone, “I want to be alone”.’
* The phrase was metaphorical: Imran had no financial expectation of Mr Chappell, who continues to enjoy rude good health.
Career Highlights
Full name Imran Khan Niazi
Born 5 October 1952, Lahore, Punjab
Current age 56 years
Major teams Pakistan, Lahore, Worcestershire, Oxford University, Sussex, New South Wales
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm fast
Relations Cousin Javed Burki, Cousin Majid Khan
Children Sulaiman, Qasim
LANDMARKS
Test debut: England v Pakistan, Birmingham, 3–8 June 1971
Final Test: Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Faisalabad, 2–7 January 1992
ODI debut: England v Pakistan, Nottingham, 31 August 1974
Final ODI: England v Pakistan, Melbourne, 25 March 1992
Best Test match batting: 136, Pakistan v Australia, Adelaide, 19 January 1990
Best Test match bowling: 14 for 116, Pakistan v Sri Lanka, Lahore, 22 March 1982
First-class career: 1969/70–1991/92
BATTING AND FIELDING
BOWLING
TEST MATCH HUNDREDS
10-WICKET MATCHES
TEST CAREER SUMMARY — BATTING
TEST CAREER SUMMARY — BOWLING
Bibliography
Abbas, Zaheer with Foot, David, Zed, Kingswood, Surrey: World’s Work, 1983
Atherton, Mike, Opening Up, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2003
Botham, Ian, My Autobiography, London: CollinsWillow, 1994
Hadlee, Richard, Rhythm and Swing, London: Souvenir Press, 1989
Khan, Imran, Imran: The Autobiography, London: Pelham Books, 1983
Khan, Imran, All Round View, London: Chatto & Windus, 1988
Khan, Imran, Indus Journey, London: Chatto & Windus, 1990
Mason, Ronald, Sing all a Green Willow, London: Epworth Press, 1967
Miandad, Javed, Cutting Edge, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2003
Musharraf, Per
vez, In the Line of Fire, New York: Free Press, 2006
Noman, Omar, Pride and Passion, Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998
Sandford, Christopher, Tom Graveney, London: Witherby, 1992
Sobers, Garry, My Autobiography, London: Headline, 2002
Tennant, Ivo, Imran Khan, London: Witherby, 1994
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, 1972–2009
Sources and Chapter Notes
Author’s note: Endnotes are a necessary evil in a book like this. The following pages show at least the formal interviews, conversations and/or other source material mined in the three years beginning in May 2006. While Imran Khan and I spoke on a number of occasions, our main interviews took place on 9 June, 7 September and 26 November 2008. He had no editorial control over the book. As well as those listed, I also spoke to a number of people who prefer not to be named. Where sources asked for anonymity — often, but not always, citing some difference of opinion with Imran dating from his cricket days — every effort was made to get them to go on the record. Where this wasn’t possible, I’ve used the words ‘a colleague’ or ‘a critic’, etc., as appropriate. Once or twice, I’ve resorted to the formula of an alias. (The reader should be assured that every fact stated in the book has been sourced, and for obvious reasons corroborated to the very fullest extent possible, before publication.) No acknowledgement thus appears of the help, encouragement and kindness I got from a number of quarters, some of them, as they say, household names. The unusually volatile exchange rate for the Pakistani rupee against both sterling and the US dollar has been adjusted throughout the text to reflect its value at the time.
CHAPTER ONE
For an overview of Pakistani Test cricket I relied on my own memory and occasional commentary and/or journalism on the matches, and more pertinently on reports appearing in the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, Dawn, The Times and Wisden, and the late and much missed Cricketer International, among many other such periodicals. It’s a pleasure, too, to acknowledge both the CricketArchive website and Omar Noman’s magisterial history of Pakistan’s national game, Pride and Passion, as sources. I also made use of previously published articles that appeared in the (Karachi) Star, the Globe and the New York Times, as well as in Javed Miandad’s memoir Cutting Edge; the last, albeit labouring under its author’s note of offended pride, is particularly vivid.
Imran Khan’s quotes beginning ‘Pakistan’s cricketers are treated like Islam … and ‘Too much is at the whim of powerful individuals …’ are from Ivo Tennant’s admirable Imran Khan and Imran’s The Autobiography, respectively.
CHAPTER TWO
For events from 1952 to 1973 I’m grateful both to the subject of the book and to two of his relatives who enlightened me on his family background, as well as to others who spoke to me of Imran’s experience in growing up in the newly minted Pakistan, notably Naeem-ul-Haque, Antao Hassan, the late Omar Kureishi, Haroun Rashid and Yusuf Salahudin. My hero (I admit it) and friend, the former England stumper John Murray, recalled the colourful circumstances of the International XI’s tour of Pakistan of March 1971, which first brought Imran to national attention. Simon Porter at Oxford University CC and Mark Newton at Worcestershire CCC were invaluable in helping piece together Imran’s time at those two clubs; I’m particularly grateful to the latter for his hospitality. It’s perhaps a small public service, too, finally to put Imran’s correct birth date on record: 5 October 1952, not 25 November 1952 as given by Wisden, among others.
As well as the above, primary sources included Qamar Ahmed, the late Les Ames, Fareshteh Aslam, Dickie Bird, Judy Flanders, George Galloway, Tom Graveney, Asif Iqbal, Vic Marks, the late Wasim Raja, Dicky Rutnagur, Mike Selvey, Fred Titmus. I should particularly acknowledge the exceptionally patient and helpful Rev. Mike Vockins. Basil D’Oliveira, an inspirational cricketer now, sadly, not in the best of health, gave me his views on Imran and a great number of other subjects in the course of a long and memorable lunch in Worcester at Christmas 1989.
Imran Khan’s quotes beginning ‘Once when I was thirteen …’, ‘The English team was thought to be invincible …’, the former very slightly amended in light of what he told me, are both from his book All Round View; Imran’s quotes beginning ‘I would sprint …’, ‘I was by far the best batsman; I saw myself as the next Bradman …’, ‘Pakistan is the only country in the world …’ and ‘… sat talking about me …’ are all from The Autobiography; Imran’s quote ‘The Niazis continued to think …’ is from his Indus Journey. The ‘One of the first English words I learned …’ quote is from Zaheer Abbas’s Zed. The ‘On [that] tour I developed a strict routine …’ quote is from Javed Miandad’s Cutting Edge. Simon Jenkins’s ‘In no other …’ quote appeared in the Guardian of 11 January 2008. The story of the adolescent Imran punching a heckler appears in Ivo Tennant’s Imran Khan.
CHAPTER THREE
Interviews and/or taped conversations, some conducted at the time of my earlier biographies, took place with Qamar Ahmed, Jeffrey Archer, Johnny Barclay, Richie Benaud, Dickie Bird, Geoff Boycott, Mike Brearley, the late Denis Compton, Dar, Ted Dexter, the late and irreplaceable Godfrey Evans, Tony Gill, Antao Hassan, the late Reg Hayter, Alastair Hignell, Asif Iqbal, Javed Kureishi, the late Chris Lander, Neil Lenham, Vic Marks, John Murray, Mark Nicholas, the late Kerry Packer, Paul Parker, Tony Pigott, the late Harold Pinter, Nigel Popplewell, Derek Pringle, Abdul Qadeer, the late Wasim Raja, Tim Rice, Mike Selvey, Fred Titmus, Rev. Mike Vockins and Ali Zaidi. Imran himself spoke to me about this phase of his career in our interview of 9 June 2008. It was a particular pleasure to revisit the County Ground, Hove (my thanks to Hugh Griffiths of Sussex CCC), where I first watched county cricket while incarcerated at a local prep school 40 years ago.
Imran Khan’s quotes beginning ‘My overall performance on the tour …’, ‘I was bullied into bowling medium pace …’, ‘… a general lack of resolve …’ and ‘… a major feature of Packer cricket …’ are from All Round View. His quotes beginning ‘I’ve always hated taking a beating …’, ‘I had to sleep on Glenn Turner’s floor …’, ‘… greeted me with a mixture of hostility, surprise and amusement …’ and ‘For the first time in my life …’ are all from The Autobiography. Imran’s quote beginning ‘I was thought to have a superior attitude …’ and the sentence beginning ‘If Javed told Imran it was eleven o’clock …’ are both from Ivo Tennant’s Imran Khan. Javed Miandad’s quote beginning ‘… the combination of pace, guile and reverse swing …’ appears in Cutting Edge, as does the alleged story about Qamar Ahmed.
CHAPTER FOUR
Imran’s early years at Sussex and the roller-coaster of his post-Packer, pre-captaincy Test career were recalled by, among others, Fareshteh Aslam, Trevor Bailey, Johnny Barclay, Richie Benaud, Dar, Dave Davies, Gus Farley, Judy Flanders, Tony Gill, David Gower, Hugh Griffiths, Antao Hassan, Alastair Hignell, Asif Iqbal, Chris Kelly, the late Chris Lander, Vic Marks, Jonathan Mermagen, Linda Morris, Mark Nicholas, Paul Parker, Tony Pigott, Nigel Popplewell, Derek Pringle, Abdul Qadeer, the late Wasim Raja, Dicky Rutnagur, Yusuf Salahudin, Mike Selvey, the late Peter Smith. I’m also grateful to the source, anonymous but then well placed, at the Pakistan cricket board. Imran’s friend Syra Vahidy was also more than generous with her time, contacts and recollections; it was one of the book’s major pleasures to meet her in London.
For secondary source material I should acknowledge the British Library, Chronicles, CricInfo, Cricket Archive, the Public Record Office, the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Dawn, The Times, Today and Wisden.
Imran’s quotes beginning ‘[Arnold Long was an] extremely affable man …’ and ‘… [the selectors] thought our regular first eleven …’ are from The Autobiography, in the latter case slightly amended by what Imran told me. A small number of quotes attributed here to Imran, among them those beginning ‘… cricket fever engulfed …’ and ‘… everything went overboard …’ are an amalgam of lines from The Autobiography and my own interviews of Imran, and I hope faithf
ully convey the language and spirit of both sources. Imran’s quote beginning ‘My father insisted that we …’ is from All Round View; his quote beginning ‘Once, when I went out to bat …’ is from the Sunday Times of 1 October 2006. Javed Miandad’s quotes beginning ‘… a plot played out by a handful of players …’ and ‘I came to believe …’ are both from Cutting Edge. The quote beginning ‘his wider appeal …’ is from Omar Noman’s Pride and Passion.