Imran Khan - leading by being international

Erudite, intelligent, charismatic and, in his heyday, one of the greatest allround cricketers the world has ever seen, Imran Khan was the figurehead of Pakistan cricket for a generation, and a man who could hold his own in all walks of life. Educated at Aitchison College in Lahore, Imran went on to Oxford University, before honing his skills as a frighteningly quick fast bowler for Sussex.

He brought to the Pakistan captaincy an international dimension and diplomacy that enabled them to become one of the finest teams in the world in the late 1980s and, in 1992, he ended his career on a glorious note, when he lifted the World Cup at Melbourne, after cajoling his "cornered tigers" into an inspired performance against England.

With his sculpted good looks and flowing mane, Imran in full cry was a sight to behold - his bowling action culminating in a bounding leap for the crease and a full-stretch whip of the body. His mastery of reverse-swing enabled him to conquer the subcontinental conditions, and ensured that a legacy was passed onto his inheritors, Waqar Younis, and Wasim Akram, whom Imran first spotted as a teenaged net bowler in 1984.

When injury limited Imran's bowling, he instead transferred his talents to his batting, and in the mid-1980s his allround skills put him on a plinth that he shared with Ian Botham, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee - international champions one and all.