After facing strong criticism for omitting Imran Khan from a video celebrating the nation’s cricket achievements, the Pakistan Cricket Board released an updated version of the footage that now includes the 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan. Upon unveiling the revised video on Thursday, the PCB referred to it as the “original version” and clarified that the prior release had excluded “significant clips due to time constraints.”
Pakistan’s cricket governing body wrote on its social media platform after posting the new video:
“The PCB has launched a promotional campaign leading up to the CWC 2023. One of the videos was uploaded on 14th August 2023. Due to its length, the video was abridged and some important clips were missing. This has been rectified in the complete version of the video.”
The updated version has four additional segments, showcasing Khan’s pivotal contributions and his triumphant moment as the captain when Pakistan secured the prestigious trophy in the 1992 World Cup. It also highlights Misbah-ul-Haq’s Test mace victory, the Women’s team’s success at the Asia Cup and Nida Dar’s remarkable achievement of claiming 100 wickets.
Wasim Akram, a former teammate of Khan and a member of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad, also criticized the PCB for the initial omission of Khan from the video.
Asking the PCB to delete the video and apologise, Akram wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):
“After long flights and hours of transit before reaching Sri Lanka, I got the shock of my life when I watched PCB’s short clip on the history of Pakistan cricket 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… PCB should delete the video and apologise.”
Beyond his cricketing prowess, Khan transitioned into a politician and established the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. He served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022 until his removal from office following a successful vote of no-confidence in 2022. Recently, he was jailed on allegations of corruption.
