KARACHI – The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has congratulated Imran Farhaton a successful 24-year-long career. The top-order batsman, who representedBalochistan in the domestic season 2020-21, retired from professionalcricket on the completion of his side’s campaign in the Pakistan CupOne-Day Tournament.
The 38-year-old marked his debut in domestic cricket in a List ‘A’ match in1997-98 season and made his first-class debut the next season.
Imran emerged on the national scene following impressive runs with thenational U19 and ‘A’ sides and made his debut for the senior men’s teamduring Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand in 2001 in ODI cricket in Februaryand played his maiden Test the next month.
Over the course of his domestic career, Imran scored 15,805 runs (38x100s,72x50s) in 230 first-class matches, 7,572 (15x100s, 38x50s) in 222 List ‘A’matches and 1,636 runs (2x100s, 8x50s) in 69 T20s.
Imran made 4,195 runs in his 105-match international career – 2,400 in 40Tests, 1,719 59 ODIs and 76 in seven T20Is.
He captained Habib Bank Limited to the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title in 2018-19season and steered Balochistan as the team’s captain in 2019-20 and thesenior-most member in 2020-21 seasons.
He was the highest run-getter for Balochistan in the Pakistan Cup One-DayTournament 2020-21 with 499 runs, which included three half-centuries andone century in nine matches.
PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan: “Imran Farhat has been one of the mostsuccessful batsmen in Pakistan’s domestic circuit and I congratulate him oncompleting a successful career.
“Imran has always been willing to give back to Pakistan cricket what he haslearned over his cricketing career. He led a young Balochistan side afterthe domestic structure’s revamp in 2019 and shared his knowledge with theupcoming cricketers from the region.
“I am hopeful that he will continue to play his role in the betterment ofPakistan cricket by transferring the vast knowledge he has gathered overthe years to the younger cricketers.”
Imran Farhat: “It is certainly an emotional moment for me to retire fromthe game which I have loved and have been passionate about since childhood.It has been an honour for me to don Pakistan colours, something which everyyoungster in this country dream about.
“There have been highs and lows in my career, which is natural, but thefact that I got to get on the field for almost two and a half decades issomething I will cherish forever.
“I want to thank the teammates with whom I have shared dressing rooms forgiving me lifetime memories. I also want to thank the coaches who believedin me while helping me get where I am today.
“I also want to thank my family who made extraordinary sacrifices to see mehappy and help me achieve my dreams. They have put in incredible effort,which remain in the background, and without their support, I wouldcertainly not have been able to achieve any of this.”