Imran Khan

source(google.com)
Imran Khan biography

    He dazzled the world with his amazing talent, he gave cricket another name, he

is and always will be remembered by cricket fans worldwide. Imran khan, an

unbelievably talented all rounder is the Legend of cricket and has reached the

top like no one else.

          This cricketer was born no differently than any other person. He was born in

Lahore, Pakistan into a family of six. He entered the world on November 25,

1952, the only boy and seventh member of his family. His parents gave him the

name Imran Khan Niazi and truly loved him since he is the only boy in their

family.

          Imran was part of a well-educated family. His parents believed that their

children should get the best of education, and become something. Imran's parents

have believed this and followed through with it, and that is why Imran's sisters

are so successful today. His older sister Robina is an alumnus of the LSE and

has a senior position in the United Nations in New York; his other sister Aleema

has a master's degree in business administration and runs a successful business;

Uzma is a highly qualified surgeon is working in a Lahore hospital; while his

other sister Rani is a University graduate who coordinates charity work. When it

was time for Imran to go attend a college, he went to the prestigious public

school in Lahore, the Aitchison College. There he was by far the best player on

his team, being a very fine batsmen. He was still though quite far from becoming

the best in the world. As Imran grew older, his interests went from being a

batsmen to being a fast bowler.

          When sixteen, Imran made his debut for Lahore. Imran's cousins Javed Burki, and

Majid Khan were a great part of cricket therefore when he made his test debut

people thought that he made it because his family was on the Pakistan's Cricket

Team. (Nepotism)

          Later, Imran had to put cricket to the side and focus more on his studies.

Undoubtedly he was back again at the age of eighteen. He played admirably which

resulted in him moving to England as he was chosen to play for a private school

there.

         As the year 1971 approached, he made his test debut while visiting England.

During this tour, he was fined many times by the management because he was

looked upon by his peers as being a very snobby and wild player. Also on this

tour, Imran did not play as well. Because of his "not so good" bowling, Pakistan

was costed to settle for a draw. This was the only test match on the tour.

          When Imran was twenty-one, he was admitted in the Oxford University. For three

years he studied economics and politics. In 1974 Pakistan toured England and

therefore he was selected because of his form for Oxford University and his

experience with speaking English. He had not succeeded to make a big mark

because all three of his tests were drawn.

          In 1976 Imran returned to Pakistan after being away for four years. During the

1976-77 season, Imran got a place in the Pakistan cricket team. He had impressed

the team with his fantastic bowling. Later he moved to play with Sussex. The

biggest reason for Imran to do this was because of his love affairs with the

nightlife of London. He was quite angry at Worcester (a team he played for

before he played for Sussex), because of the racism he found there. During the

time he had been playing for other teams, Imran had become quite a big star.

Everyone was able to see that this guy had talent and played very well. At this

point, not only was he playing well, but had basically become a superstar.

          Imran continued to play for Sussex, because he enjoyed it there. At this point

he had become the "father" of the reverse swing. His most famous partner was

Sarfaraz Nawaz, in which the partners could make a lot of runs.

          Soon after, under the orders of the top official, Imran came back to Pakistan

to play test cricket for the series against India. During this match, Imran hit

two sixes and a four with only seven balls remaining. Because of Imran's huge

success, one could easily say that Imran was one of the most adored cricketer

through the land at this point.

          During the early 80's Imran was not only at his cricketing peak, but had quite

a few relations with women. He had a relationship with Susannah Costantine,

ex-model Marie Helving, and artist Emma Sargeant. Some of his relations ended

simply because of difference in culture and because of the busy and travelling

life of Imran. He brought some of his relationships back home to Pakistan in

which he was frowned upon because he was an individual of Muslim faith.

          When Imran was thirty, he became the captain of the Pakistan cricket team. He

lead them to a victory against England in their second test match.

          During the years of his captaincy, Imran had broken his shin. Even though this

was so, Imran continued to bowl, whether there was pain or not. Because of his

injury, Imran was able to put bowling to the side and concentrate more on his

batting. Imran improved his batting greatly which led him to his first century

in a one day match.

          In 1987, Imran decided to retire from cricket. Javed Miandad took his place.

Because Pakistan's best captain was gone; the team was in somewhat of crisis.

President Zia put a lot of pressure on Imran, therefore he was back as a captain

in 1988.

          In 1992, the world cup final was Imran's exit from cricket. He led Pakistan to a

great victory over India. Pakistan had won the World Cup. It was time for Imran

to retire, which brought a lot of grief to Pakistan. He ended his career with an

outstanding score of 3807 runs and 362 wickets in only test matches. During his

career, Imran had turned the Pakistan cricket stars into the stars they are

today. The day that Imran retired was a very big day. So big that the President

of that time, Zia personally tried to stop him from retiring. Imran said that he

wanted to retire at the highest point of his popularity so that people would be

able to remember him forever.4 He wanted his name to be in all hearts and be

recognized for all his accomplishments. Imran had officially ended his career as

a cricketer and is truly remembered by all.

          When Imran won the world cup, he had raised twenty five million dollars to

build a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. About ten years ago when

Imran's mother had cancer; Imran was desperately looking for some place to take

her, but none of the hospital's in Pakistan had the right facilities to treat

her. When Imran took her to an outside country, it was too late; she had lost

her battle against cancer. Eversnice then, Imran has wanted to build a cancer

hospital. Today he has a wonderful hospital standing in Lahore, Pakistan. It is

named after his mother Shawkat Khanam. Imran does not charge anything to

patients who cannot afford the treatment.

          In 1995, Imran decided to settle down and marry. He married Jemima Goldsmith who

is the daughter of a millionaire. She was Jewish and converted to Islam by

choice just before the two got married. Their wedding took place in Paris. When

they came back to London, they threw a party which was more for the public.

          On November 18th 1996, Imran and Jemima were the proud parent's of a baby boy.

The named him Suleiman Isa. On April 10th, 1999 Jemima gave birth to yet another

baby boy. They have named him Kassim.

          Today, Imran has entered the world of politics and has set up his own party. He

continues to fundraise for his hospital. He does this by taking tours with

popular stars. Some stars donate their money to Imran's hospital. Jemima designs

clothes and sells them overseas. The profit goes to the Shawkat Khanam Memorial

Hospital. Also the restaurant in London, Salt and Pepper gives its profits to

the hospital.

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Imran Khan

Umer Gul

source(google.com.pk)
Umer Gul Biography

Umar Gul is a Pakistani right arm fast medium bowler in cricket who has played Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the Pakistani cricket team.
He has gained fame as one of the most successful bowlers in Twenty20 cricket finishing as the leading wicket taker and bowler in both the 2007 and 2009 Twenty20 World Championship tournaments.
Gul was born in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan he was born in a middle-class family and frequently played tape-ball cricket.
People on the street encouraged Gul to become an international cricketer as they saw his superb bowling. On October 2010 Gul's family announced that he was to wed a Dubai Doctor. The doctor is from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and she was born there as well.
On 30 May 2012, Pakistan Army raided Umar Gul's house in Peshawar and arrested his brother on the charge of hiding a wanted militant.
In February 2008, Gul signed with the Indian Premier League and was drafted by Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for US $150,000.
He played in six matches, taking 12 wickets at an average of 15.33, including a player of the match award in Kolkata's final game in which Gul took 4-23 and scored 24 runs from 11 balls.
In December 2008 Gul signed with the Western Warriors to compete in the Australian domestic 2008-09 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash tournament.
He performed very well in his debut match for the Warriors, taking 4 wickets for 15 runs in a losing side.
He was amongst the most successful bowlers in the competition despite not being available for the entire tournament he finished second top wicket taker with 12 wickets.
Internationally, Gul has taken 47 wickets in just 32 games at an average of 14.65, a truly outstanding statistic.
He is the second leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 Internationals behind teammate Shahid Afridi.Umar Gul, after taking five-for in Twenty20 International Cricket, became the first ever bowler to own five wickets haul in all international formats of the game.

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Umar Akmal

Source(google.com.pk)
Umar Akmal Biography

Full name Umar Akmal

Born May 26, 1990, Lahore, Punjab

Major teams Pakistan, Lahore Lions, Pakistan Under-19s, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited

Playing role Middle-order batsman

Batting style Right-hand bat

Fielding position Occasional wicketkeeper

Relation Brother - Kamran Akmal, Brother - Adnan Akmal

The runs didn't cease to flow for Umar Akmal, the younger brother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran and Adnan, in his maiden first-class season. In a triumphant 2007-08 for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, Umar failed to score in his first outing but then went on to amass 855 runs from nine matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, at an average of 77.72 and an impressive strike-rate of 90.18. He showed a penchant for both brisk and big scoring, with knocks of 248 off 225 balls and 186 off 170. In January 2008, he was picked in Pakistan's Under-19 team for the World Cup in Malaysia. He was the leading run-getter - with 255 runs at a strike-rate of 123.18 - in a tri-nation tournament involving England and Sri Lanka in the lead-up to the World Cup. A successful tour of Australia with Pakistan A was followed up a maiden international call-up for the ODIs in Sri Lanka, and Umar started off with a half-century in his second game and a power-packed hundred in his third. A Test call-up was inevitable and he gave an optimistic glimpse into the future of Pakistan cricket, with a century on debut, under pressure followed by a string of consistent scores in New Zealand.

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Imran khan

source(google.com.pk)

Date of Birth : November 25, 1952

Place of Birth : Mianwali
He is from the Niazi Pashtun Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali. His family is settled in Lahore, however, he still considers his background Pathan as per his autobiography (Warrior Race: A Journey through the Land of the Tribal Pathans).
Imran attended Aitcheson College and the Cathedral School in Lahore until he finished middle school, then entered the Royal Grammar School, Worcester, before completing his formal schooling with an undergraduate degree in Economics from Keble College, Oxford.
While at University, Imran Khan was also the captain of the Oxford University cricket team in 1974. He and his mother, Shaukat Khanum, come from a cricketing family – the Burkis, with two of his cousins, Javed Burki and Majid Khan, also having played Test cricket for Pakistan.
He is the finest cricketer Pakistan has ever produced, who is among the finest all-rounders and greatest fast bowlers the game has ever seen. He played Test cricket for Pakistan between 1971 and 1992, and was captain of the national team when they won their maiden World Cup in 1992.
After retiring from cricket, Imran Khan founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Lahore.

In 1997, he started a socio-political movement known as the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice). The main focus of his party is to bring justice to the people of Pakistan, largely via an independent judiciary. The party has Islamic overtones and is inspired partly by Imran Khan’s renewed commitment to Islam.As a politician, his vision is to turn Pakistan into a just society, based on humane values, by creating an independent and honest judiciary that will uphold democracy, protect human rights and ensure the rule of law and, by promoting a merit based system that provides equal opportunity for upward social mobility to the working classes. His political ideal is the famous poet-philosopher, Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal.
Talking to Daily Telegraph of England about his political goal, Imran Khan said: “I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary. We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grassroots.”
He became a Member of Parliament for Mianwali in the October 2002 elections. He is very critical of the judicial system in Pakistan, which he says prevents accountability for the elite class. Initially he supported 1999 military coup of General Pervez Musharraf but late came in to the forefront against General Musharraf.
In 2005, as leader of his party Imran led a protest rally against the US-led coalition for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran and made statements denouncing the Musharraf-Bush coalition. During the visit of US President George W Bush to Pakistan in 2006, he was the only politician to attempt to hold a rally against Bush. The rally was stopped and Imran Khan was detained by the police.
Imran Khan is also a special representative of UNICEF and Chancellor of Bradford University. His honours include Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) in 1993 by the Pakistani government; Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford and Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1983.
In 1995 he married Jemima Khan, the daughter of the late British billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. Jemima Khan embraced Islam before she married Khan. They announced their divorce on June 22, 2004. They have two sons named Suleman Khan (born on November 10, 1999) and Qasim Khan. He is alleged to have a daughter out of wedlock with Sita White, daughter of Lord Gordy White, a few years before he married Jemima Goldsmith. A US judge ruled him to be the father of Tyrian White after he failed to appear for a DNA test.
Although there are little achievements to credit of Imran Khan in the political arena, there is a long list of his achievements in the sport of cricket. He has the third highest best-ever bowling rating of 922 (1983) in Test cricket history behind S F Barnes’s 932 (1914) and G A Lohmann’s 931 (1896).
Imran Khan is pioneer of the art of reverse swing. He was one of the fastest bowlers ever to grace the game. Michael Holding, the great West Indian fast bowler and commentator, when asked in an interview with Cricinfo who the best bowlers he came up against were, said: “In my time, it was Dennis Lillee and Imran Khan. They had pace and they could do things with the ball. You had others who got a lot of wickets, but you wouldn’t say that they were fast. Imran … could intimidate people out with his pace and also get them with movement, especially into the right-hander.”
In the cricket world, Imran Khan is renowned for his leadership skills as a captain. Under his captaincy, Pakistan won the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Under his captaincy Pakistan drew three series with West Indies at a time when everybody else was being whitewashed by West Indies. He always led from the front and five of six Test hundreds and 14 of his 18 fifties came in 48 Tests as captain. His average during that time was 52.34, higher than the averages of Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Steve Waugh, Gavaskar and Javed Miandad. Imran averaged 20.26 with the ball and four of his six 10-wicket hauls came as captain.
As a captain, he transformed the Pakistan team, previously known for its exceptional talent but lack of coherence into a well-moulded unit. He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992 against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad and last ODI being the World Cup final against England at Melbourne in March 1992 resulting in the World Cup glory and triumph for Pakistan.
In 2000, Wisden organised a panel to vote for Wisden Cricketers of the Century who were judged to be the most prominent players of the 20th century, as selected by a 100-member panel of cricket experts appointed by Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac in 2000. In order of votes, the Wisden Cricketers of the Century, Imran Khan was number 10 on the list.
Along with Garfield Sobers, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee, he achieved the ‘All-rounder’s triple’ (3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fewest behind Botham’s 72, though statistically and qualitatively Imran Khan is superior to Botham in every aspect of the game except perhaps slip catching. He was one of the fastest bowlers of the world during the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in the later half of his career, one of the best batsmen in the Pakistan cricket team. He has the second highest average of all time for a Test batsman batting at number 6.
In April 2007, Imran Khan was voted as the greatest all-rounder in a readers’ poll by Cricinfo. He received 37 per cent of the votes, beating Sir Garfield Sobers who was second with 14 per cent out of the 20 all-rounders Cricinfo had selected. Incidentally Cricinfo panel chose Sobers as the greatest all-rounder independent of the poll. According to the panel, Imran Khan was Sobers’ closest rival amongst the quartet of great all-rounders (Imran, Botham, Hadlee, Kapil).
After retiring from cricket, Imran Khan founded the state-of-the-art Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore on December 29, 1994. One of the leading institutions for free cancer treatment in the world, it is an international standard institution and is free for poor people. The World Health Organisation awarded the United Arab Emirates Foundation Prize for 2004 to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. He is building another cancer hospital in Karachi.
Imran Khan is also the Chairman of the Mianwali Development Trust, which is building the Namal College in Mianwali as an associate college of Bradford University. The first phase of the college buildings has been completed.
Imran Khan, perhaps first Pakistani, is the Chancellor of the University of Bradford since December 7, 2005. He said the fifth Chancellor of the university and is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project.
After imposition of the state of emergency by General Musharraf on November 3, 2007, Imran Khan was put under house arrest but his succeeded in slipping away. However, he was arrested from the University of Punjab campus in Lahore a few days later with help of the Islami Jamiat-e-Talba, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami. On November 19, 2007, he let out the word through his party members and family that he had begun a hunger strike. He was one of the 3,000 political prisoners released from imprisonment on November 21, 2007.

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Shahid Afridi

Source(Google.com.pk)
Shahid Afridi Biography
Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (born 1 March 1980 in Khyber Agency), popularly known as Shahid Afridi, is a Pakistani cricketer currently playing for the Pakistani national team in the international circuit. He made his ODI debut on 2 October 1996 against Kenya in Nairobi[1] and his Test debut on 22 October 1998 against Australia at Karachi.[2] He is known for his aggressive batting style, and currently holds the highest career strike rate in the history of international cricket. In a recent survey, Afridi was named as the most popular cricketer in Pakistan.[3] He also holds the record for the fastest one day century which he made in his debut innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI.

Style

His general style of batting is very aggressive and attack oriented and has earned him the nickname “Boom Boom Afridi” for his fastest One Day International century just in 37 balls. As of 22 May 2007, he has an ODI strike rate of 109.38 runs per 100 balls, the highest in the game’s history. This attitude has been transferred to Test cricket as well, with Afridi scoring at a relatively high strike rate of 86.13 in Tests. He has an approach to batting that can change the tempo of a game and inspire the mood of an audience, as shown when a mass exodus of spectators occurred in Pakistan in late 2005 following his dismissal from the crease. He hits many sixes long and high, favoring straight down the ground or over midwicket. A trademark shot is a crossbatted flick to the leg-side to a ball outside off stump.[8]. This explosive style has led to some memorable shots, most notably the first ever 12 in power cricket in 2002, where Afridi successfully hit the roof. [9] However, his aggressive style increases his risk of getting out and he is one of the most inconsistent batsmen in cricket. This is reflected by the fact that he is the only player to score more than 5000 ODI runs at an average under 25.

Bowling-wise, his stock ball is the leg break, but his armory also includes the conventional off break and a ‘quicker one’ which he can deliver at nearly 80 mph in the style of a medium-pacer. He bowls at a high speed for a spinner, resulting in lesser turn, and relying more on variations in speed. He occasionally sends down a bouncer to a batsmen, which is very rare for a spin bowler.

International career

In October 1996 at the age of sixteen he was brought into the ODI team as a legspinner as a replacement for the injured Mushtaq Ahmed. He then gained notability as a pinch-hitter and began opening with Saeed Anwar. He holds the record for scoring the fastest century in one-day internationals (off 37 balls)[12], scored in only his second match and his first ODI innings. He also shares with Brian Lara the record for the third-fastest century in ODIs (off 45 balls). One of Pakistan’s most useful all-rounders, he has an extremely aggressive batting style, which has garnered him over 5,000 ODI runs (including an erstwhile world-record 249 sixes, recently broken by Sanath Jayasuriya), as well as taking over 250 wickets at ODI and 47 at Test level.

For various reasons, including a perception that he lacks patience in his batting, Afridi had limited opportunity in Test matches, although he currently averages in the high thirties and mid-thirties with bat and ball respectively. As it is, Afridi has featured in less than one third of the Test Matches played by Pakistan over the course of his career.[13] However, he made his presence felt in the third Test against India in March 2005, scoring a quick-fire second-innings half-century and taking five wickets in the match (including Tendulkar twice) to help Pakistan to win the game and register a series draw.

It is perceived that his batting struggles on bouncy pitches and against opponents like Australia, although his record against the Australians has improved over time. Although he has had success as an opener on sub-continent pitches, Afridi is often moved into the lower order as well.

Afridi was more consistent with his batting and bowling throughout 2005, starting with the tours of India and West Indies and through to the England tour. The Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer helped Afridi to reach a fuller potential by improving his shot selection and giving him free rein over his batting attitude.

In the 2007 World Twenty20, he performed poorly with the bat but brilliantly with the ball, earning the Man of the Series award, though he failed to take a wicket in the final and was out for a golden duck.

Career Highlights

* On 4 October 1996, playing his maiden international innings, Afridi hit the fastest One-Day century off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi. His innings included 28 runs off one of Sanath Jayasuriya’s overs, whose record he broke. [15]

* Youngest player in history to make an ODI century at just 16 years and 217 days with his 37 ball ton against Sri Lanka. It included 11 sixes and 6 fours. [16]

* Made a half-century from 26 balls and took 3 second-innings wickets in Pakistan’s series-drawing Test victory against India in March 2005.[14]

* Holds the joint record with Brian Lara for the third fastest ODI century off 45 balls in April 2005 against India. [17] This actually was the first match that witnessed the Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri make him the nickname Boom Boom Afridi.

* Equal highest aggregate sixes scored in the 50-over game, shared the legendary Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, and he the most sixes per innings record.

* Scored four consecutive sixes off a Harbhajan Singh over in a Test match against India in January 2006, matching a feat that Kapil Dev achieved in 1990.

* Was the first player to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the roof of the Millennium Stadium. This took place in a game of Power Cricket.[citation needed][clarification needed]

* Holds four of the top eight fastest ODI half centuries, twice completed in 18 balls and twice in 20 balls. He has also scored a half century off just 21 balls.

* Made 32 runs off a Malinga Bandara over in an ODI game at Abu Dhabi in 2007. He struck four consecutive sixes and it was the 2nd most expensive over in ODI history.

* Afridi is only third player in ODI history to achieve the combination of 5000 runs and 200 wickets. The other players being Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and South African Jacques Kallis.

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