Imran Khan who? That seems to be the messaging in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s video released on August 14th paying homage to country’s cricketing legends and milestones.
Imran Khan, the man who captained us to World Cup glory in 1992 (lest PCB has forgotten), is glaringly missing from the entire video. His photo of lifting the World Cup trophy — the only one we have in one-day cricket — did make it to the cover image along with other captains but the rest of the 2-minute, 20-second video would have you believe he had no contribution to the sport.
When asked about Imran’s erasure, the PCB said it had “no comment”.
Unless you count his millisecond, if that, cameo which we managed to take a picture of. See if you can spot it without our help.
“Making history isn’t just about one day, it’s about the legends we create and the tales we script. Pakistan Cricket Team – a legacy that echoes through time,” wrote the PCB in its caption on X, formerly Twitter.
We aren’t the only ones who noticed — literally everyone has — that while hailing legends, PCB has forgotten one of the main ones. In the 1992 section, the PCB included several pictures of Inzamamul Haq and Wasim Akram, making it seem as if Imran was either not there or incredibly camera shy.
Shame on PCB is currently trending on X, with people expressing their incredulity at Imran’s erasure, not that the erasure of politicians and political figures is new.
But politics aside, Imran is quite literally one of, if not the most, celebrated cricketer in Pakistan and across the globe.
He captained us to our only World Cup win.
Kind of wild how they thought they’d get away with removing him from their video.
Does he…not exist?
They missed some other moments too, but Imran was the big one.
Sheikh Hasina and the Bhuttos made it to the video though.
We aren’t sure what the PCB thought it was doing when it made this video, but whatever it was, it clearly backfired. Clearly, the board can’t seem to keep politics away from a sport that the people of the country hold dear. Let us remind them that simply thinking that leaving out Imran from all their select footage can remove him from people’s memories is a laughable folly. His name is synonymous with cricket and that’s just a fact.
Update: PCB deleted its video on August 16 and uploaded an ‘unabridged’ version.
Dear PCB, you DO remember Imran Khan was the captain in 1992, right?