Imran Khan: The biography By Christopher Sandford, HarperCollins, Rs 499

I am a little wary of books that claim to be definitive works on people’s lives. When I picked up Christopher Sandford’s book on the great Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan, two words — “The Biography”— that form a part of the title immediately caught my attention. I was curious to find out whether Sandford has lived up to the expectations raised by that sub-title. After going through the 400-odd pages, this is the verdict I have reached: Sandford has done a decent job by putting together a book that is eminently readable. But by calling it “The Biography”, Sandford has, to borrow loosely from the cricketing lexicon, taken a swipe at a delivery and ended up missing it by a fair margin.

Charting the careers of Pakistani cricketers can be an arduous task for any author. Given the unpredictable nature of Pakistan’s cricketing establishment and the legendary caprice of the talented, but temperamental, players, individual cricketers are bound to have their share of ups and downs. Imran was no exception. In a career spanning 21 years, he tasted supreme glory when he lifted the world cup for his country in 1992, in Australia, where he turned up for the matches after being administered a daily course of cortisone injections for a torn cartilage. In between, he suffered, and survived, several ignominies like crushing defeats, allegations of ball tampering as well as bruising personal battles with team-mates such as Javed Miandad. The cricket board’s treatment of the imperious pathan left a lot to be desired in some instances. Sandford writes of an occasion in which a board functionary walked up to Imran with his son and told the captain, who was padded up to go in and bat, “to be a good fellow and collect everyone’s autographs”.

Sandford has recorded the highlights of Imran’s international career meticulously. Significantly, he has chosen to document Imran’s awe-inspiring performances in county cricket as well, something that has not been done often enough, or in such detail. For instance, Sandford notes that 1976 was Imran’s year, as he finished with 1,092 runs and 65 wickets to win the Wetherall Award for English cricket’s best all-rounder of the year. The anecdotes provided by Sandford to describe Imran’s captaincy are equally illuminating. Imran once instructed the mercurial leg-spinner, Abdul Qadir, to sport a “pointed French-style beard” to “unsettle the opposition batsmen”. This small incident bears testimony to the fact that Imran was an intelligent captain who seldom hesitated to employ unorthodox methods. To mollify Qadir, Imran even promised that the beard would have a charming effect on women. This surely was not the case, but the leg-spinner could not have defied his captain, given Imran’s absolute control over his players. It was this desire to perform for their leader that saw Pakistan win 14 of the 41 Tests that they played under “Skip”.

But while delving into cricketing matters, Sandford fails to deliver on some critical fronts. First, given the complex and fractured ties between India and Pakistan, Sandford’s assertion that Imran emerged as some sort of a unifying symbol for a resurgent subcontinent is too gross a generalization. Second, the 1970s and 80s were the decades that belonged to the great all-rounders of the game: Imran, Botham, Hadlee and Kapil. Sandford throws in a few quotes and incidents to shed light on Imran’s relations with the other three players, but refrains from analysing whether Imran was the greatest of them all. Finally, Sandford’s descriptions of the matches involving Imran would put even a moderately-gifted cricket writer to shame. The accounts are bone-dry, shorn of the accompanying drama and excitement. Imran’s contribution to Pakistan in the shorter-version of the game has also not been explored fully.

But this is also a biography of Imran the Politician. In one grand sweep, Sandford traces the roots that led to the inception of Imran’s party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf, the subsequent disappointments at the ballot and Imran’s bitter feud with his opponents, including Musharraf. The reasons Sandford gives to explain Imran’s failure as a politician indicate that Sandford is blessed with sharp political insight. Keeping Imran in focus, Sandford also provides a compelling account of Pakistan’s frightening descent into a cesspool of instability and violence.

Sandwiched between the cricketer and the politician is Imran the Celebrity. Sandford sets about dissecting Imran’s fame and sex appeal with a dedication that can only be matched by a paparazzo. There are numerous references to Imran’s off-field exploits, as well as a sympathetic look into his failed marriage. Some of Imran’s women, with double-barrelled names like Susie Murray-Philipson, were high-flying heiresses. Others, from a different class but equally adventurous, flooded him with alluring messages. This is what a former companion tells Sandford about the dishy Pakistani cricketer: “But oddly enough, you always felt you were the only girl in the world when you were with him. Very few men 30 years ago actually listened to women….” With his looks, courteous manners and evident empathy, Imran ended up winning most encounters in this different game.

Wasim Raja confides that he knew “at least three or four Imrans”. This may well be true. While building the cancer hospital named after his mother, Imran, who has led a rather colourful life, demonstrated a zeal that can be found only in the truly pious. This is also a man who fights for the poor and oppressed, but thinks nothing of airing views that have sometimes made him look like a religious zealot from across the border. Sandford’s biography manages to capture a few, and not all, of these Imrans. Can this then be justifiably labelled as “The biography?