Early life
At one place Santiago is quoted as saying “But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Imran Khan the famous Pakistani cricketer is a true example of this quote.
Imran Khan was born in Lahore Pakistan into Punjabi speaking family of Pathan origin, the only son of Ikram ullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum. Although long settled in Mianwali in northwestern Punjab, the family are of Pashtun ethnicity and belong to the Niazi Shermankhel tribe. A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his four sisters in relatively affluent (upper middle-class) circumstances and received a privileged education. He was educated at the Cathedral School in Lahore, the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket, and at Aitchison College, Lahore. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford, where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics. Khan’s mother hailed from the Burki family which had produced several successful hockey players, as well as cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Early in life, Khan developed an interest in cricket, which is an extremely popular sport in Pakistan.
Professional life
As a cricketer:
Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), and Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71). Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973–75 seasons. At Worcestershire, where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980–81). From 1983 to 1988, he played