'Indian' in Pakistani team

UPDATED  29/3/2011 3:33:48 PM

Vivek Shukla

New Delhi:

You can not take out the Indian connection of Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam Khan. He has a very strong Indian roots in the sense that he was born on December 28, 1941, at Hoshiarpur in Punjab.

As this is not enough, the ace leg spinner has also coached Punjab team in Ranji trophy in the recent years. Inti, as he was known in the Cricket world during his playing days, was the first bowler to grab the wicket on his very first ball of test match career.

During his coaching days in Punjab, the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were also in Punjab side.

He played in 47 Tests and 4 ODIs from 1959 to 1977. He also played in English county cricket for Surrey between 1969 and 1981.

Once talking to this reporter,he said, "My family was uprooted from Hoshirpur in the wake of partition of the country after living there for more than 700 years."

Intikhab was Pakistan 's first One Day International cricket captain. He played 3 matches as captain, winning two and losing one. He was the coach in 1992 Cricket World Cup winning Pakistani team. 
In 2004, he was appointed as the first foreigner to coach a domestic Indian cricket team , coaching Punjab , in the Ranji Trophy .

On 25 October 2008, he was named as national coach of the Pakistan cricket team by PCB , a day after Australian Geoff Lawson was sacked as the national coach of Pakistan. 
In 2009, Intikhab led Pakistan to their first Twenty20 World Cup title by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.

 Courtesy:News24