Akram criticises PCB's social media video for leaving out Imran Khan

The video was ultimately deleted and an updated version that does feature Imran Khan was published by the PCB

16-Aug-2023

Wasim Akram had the "shock of his life" when he watched the video  •  Visionhaus/Getty Images

Wasim Akram has criticised a PCB video released on the country's Independence Day, on August 14, for the conspicuous absence of their only ODI World Cup winning captain Imran Khan. The PCB released a two minute-plus video on August 14 with the hashtag #BeyondJustOneDay, highlighting the major contributions of some of their top players and some of the highlights from Pakistan cricket, since 1952 when they played their first international game.

Akram tweeted on Wednesday that he got the "shock of his life" when he watched the video and urged the PCB to delete the video and "apologise" for leaving Imran out of it.

"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," the tweet said.

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…
— Wasim Akram (@wasimakramlive) August 16, 2023

Urooj Mumtaz, former captain of the Pakistan's women's team, had also tweeted about Imran's omission from the video, on August 14, by pointing out that there were "11 images" of the 1992 World Cup win but all without the then captain.

Reminiscing in Pakistan crickets history, 11 images of the 1992 World Cup win and not one pic or mention of the greatest that ever played the game for the country!

Imran Khan will go down in history as one of the greats of the global game!#PakistanCricket https://t.co/wKsvBgNZ3u
— Urooj Mumtaz Khan (@uroojmumtazkhan) August 14, 2023

The video received severe backlash from Pakistani fans on social media when it was released on Monday.

Imran is widely regarded as the finest cricketer Pakistan has produced and one of the game's greatest allrounders. He led them to their first global title in 1992 at the MCG, a culmination of a decade of captaincy in which he turned Pakistan into one of the best sides in the world. He led them to a famous trilogy of drawn Test series with the best side of that time, West Indies, as well as major ODI triumphs in Sharjah and the Nehru Cup - a mini World Cup of sorts in India in 1989.

In 2018 he was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, after a two-decade long political career but was ousted last year after a vote of no-confidence by parliament. He has been protesting against the incumbent government since, has been injured after an assassination attempt and was, ten days ago, arrested and sentenced to three years in jail for not declaring the proceeds of state gifts to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The PCB re-released a new version of the video hours after Wasim's criticism that did feature images of Imran and deleted the previous version. They said the original video was abridged "due to its length" and stated that "some important clips were missing". Wasim, ironically, was not featured in this version.*

*This article was updated at 20:40 GMT on 16 August 2023 to reflect the PCB's explanation surrounding Imran's omission from the original promotional video, and to note the fact a new promotional video had been released

Wasim Akram Imran Khan Urooj Mumtaz Pakistan