Imran Khan, a retired Pakistani cricketer and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, took 24 five-wicket hauls during his career in international cricket. In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer")[1] refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement,[2] and as of 2014 fewer than 45 bowlers have taken more than 15 five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.[3] [4] [5] A right-arm fast bowler who represented his country between 1971 and 1992, Khan was described by the BBC as "one of the finest fast bowlers cricket has ever seen",[6] while ESPNcricinfo declared him as "the greatest cricketer to emerge from Pakistan, and arguably the world's second-best allrounder after Garry Sobers".[7] [8] [9] In 1983 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,[10] and was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in January 2009.[11] [12]
Khan made his Test debut in 1971 against England at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.[13] His first Test five-wicket haul came in 1977 against Australia in a match at Melbourne Cricket Ground which Pakistan lost.[14] In the same year, he took his first pair of five-wicket hauls in a single match against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[15] By the end of his career, he had claimed five-wickets hauls in both innings of a match on three occasions.[15] His career-best figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium, in March 1982.[16] He took ten or more wickets in a match on six occasions.[17]
Having made his One Day International (ODI) debut in August 1974[18] against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham,[19] Khan's solitary ODI five-wicket haul came in 1985 against India in a match at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium which Pakistan lost. He took 6 wickets for 14 runs in the match, which was his career-best bowling in ODI cricket. By the time he retired from international cricket in 1992 after nearly 21 years,[18] Khan had taken 23 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket[4] and one in ODIs.[20], he is fifteenth overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers, a position which he shares with Sydney Barnes, Kapil Dev and Dennis Lillee.[3]
Symbol | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
Date | Date the match was held, or starting date of the match for Test matches | |
Overs | Number of overs bowled in that innings | |
Runs | Runs conceded | |
Wkts | Number of wickets taken | |
Batsmen | The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five-wicket haul | |
Econ | Bowling economy rate (average runs per over) | |
Inn | The innings of the match in which the five-wicket haul was taken | |
Result | The result for the Pakistan team in that match | |
Khan selected as "Man of the match" | ||
10 wickets or more taken in the match | ||
One of two five-wicket hauls by Khan in a match |
No. | Date | Ground | Against | Inn | Overs | Runs | Wkts | Econ | Batsmen | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lost | ||||||||||
2 | Won | ||||||||||
3 | Won | ||||||||||
4 | Lost[21] | ||||||||||
5 | Drawn | ||||||||||
6 | Lost[22] | ||||||||||
7 | Drawn[23] | ||||||||||
8 | Drawn[24] | ||||||||||
9 | Won | ||||||||||
10 | Won | ||||||||||
11 | Lost[25] | ||||||||||
12 | Lost[26] | ||||||||||
13 | Won[27] | ||||||||||
14 | Won[28] | ||||||||||
15 | Won | ||||||||||
16 | Won[29] | ||||||||||
17 | Won[30] | ||||||||||
18 | Lost[31] | ||||||||||
19 | Drawn[32] | ||||||||||
20 | Won[33] | ||||||||||
21 | Drawn[34] | ||||||||||
22 | Won[35] | ||||||||||
23 | Drawn[36] |