Imran Khan lost case London court It was the summer of 1996. It was July and the eyes of the world’s media were on a court in London where the leading cricketers of their time were fighting an interesting legal battle.
The story goes that in the year 1994,Imran Khan lost case London court, the former captain of the Pakistan team, gave an interview to India’s leading newspaper Indian Today in its London bureau.
In this interview, Imran Khan accused former England cricket team captain Iain Botham and his teammate Alan Lamb of being racist and described them as ‘undereducated, racist and of inferior social status’.
In his interview, he also accused Iain Botham of being a fraud.
At the same time, Imran Khan wrote in his biography that Iain Botham took a reverse swing by removing the seam of the ball from a bottle cap during a county match.
Recalling this historic case, senior sports journalist in Pakistan Abdul Majid Bhatti says that former captain of England cricket team Iain Botham was at the peak of his fame in Britain during those days and his feelings against Pakistan were not hidden from anyone.
After retiring from cricket, Botham started philanthropic work, which made him a respected figure in the UK. However, he was still reeling from the defeat by Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup and was always in the headlines for his sharp statements.
The British media did not support the former Pakistan captain and there were always accusations of ball-tampering against Pakistani players.”
At that time there was competition;
between four great all-rounders in the world. Apart from Imran Khan, Iain Botham, India’s Kapil Dev and Richard Hadley were among them. Iain Botham, who used to make many controversial statements regarding Pakistani players and cricket in Pakistan.
The Pakistani bowlers were also surprised by the reverse swing of the new ball and kept making accusations of ball tampering. After a visit to Pakistan, Eain Botham commented about Pakistan, saying that “Pakistan is a place where one should send one’s mother-in-law for two weeks at all expenses.”
But in 1994, when Imran Khan’s accusations
about Iain Botham and Alan Lamb came out in the Indian Journal, Iain Botham could not bear it and filed a case against Imran Khan in the UK court. Imran Khan denied the interview in court and called it out of context. He also produced former players as witnesses on ball-tampering and claimed to bring out some videos.
Referring to this case, Imran Khan wrote in his autobiography that his lawyers were not very optimistic about the court proceedings. “He felt that Eonothem was a hero of Britain and that the case could be decided in his favor.”
The proceedings of this case continued for two and a half weeks and during this time Imran Khan along with his wife Jemima Khan kept appearing in the court.
During this court proceedings,
his close friend late Naeem ul Haq was also present in the court with him. Ultimately, the court ruled in Imran Khan’s favor and imposed a fine of 500,000 pounds on Iain Botham and Alan Lamb. The court’s 12-member jury gave the verdict by a ratio of 10 to 2.
British media and English players were quite unhappy and surprised by this decision because Einbotham was sure that the decision of the case would be in his favor, but he lost the claim for the most expensive damages in the history of cricket. Commenting on the case, Alan Lamb said in an interview that “I am bankrupt after this decision.”
“Imran Khan studied in the UK and played county cricket, so he understood the mood there and he adopted the same aggressive style on the court as he did on the field.”
When the British court acquitted former Pakistan cricket team captain Imran Khan in the case of damages and fined English cricketers Iain Botham and Alan Lamb 500,000 pounds, it was a surprise not only to the parties to the case but to everyone.
who had some information about him.
According to senior analyst and cricket commentator Mirza Iqbal Baig, ‘Imran Khan, Iain Botham and Alan Lamb became traditional rivals from county cricket. And this antagonism reached its peak when England was defeated by Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup.
He said that ‘Iain Botham would always make Imran Khan’s reverse swing controversial and accuse him of tampering with the ball.’ Mirza Iqbal Baig says that ‘Botham also came to Pakistan for commentary on the occasion of England’s tour of Pakistan in 2005. During this time, he also expressed his desire to meet Imran Khan and kept mentioning Imran Khan.
