Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to apologise and delete its August 14 video that paid homage to country’s cricketing legends and milestones but made almost no mention of Imran Khan – the cricketer-turned-politician under whose leadership Pakistan won its sole ODI World Cup in 1992. The tribute video, posted on the country’s 76th Independence Day (Monday), was widely criticised on social media and earned the PCB a ton of flak – contrary to what it was supposed to do.

Wasim, arguably the greatest among an entire generation of cricketers who blossomed under the tutelage of Imran, also expressed his displeasure over the snub. In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Akram stated that he got the “shock of his life” after watching the video “minus the great Imran Khan”. “Political differences apart but Imran Khan is an icon of world cricket and developed Pakistan into a strong unit in his time and gave us a pathway,” he added. “The PCB should delete the video and apologise.”

Following his retirement from cricket in 1992, Imran turned to politics – a journey that climaxed in 2018 with him becoming the country’s prime minister as well as the PCB’s patron-in-chief. He was, however, ousted from the top office in 2022 and has since embattled a series of legal troubles – one of which was the Toshakhana case wherein he was found “guilty of corrupt practices”, sentenced to three years in prison and subsequently disqualified from holding a public office for five years. He is currently incarcerated in Attock Jail.