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Imraan Khan has joined the South African men's cricket team as the new batting lead. He will be the batting coach for the team's upcoming ICC World Test Championship series against West Indies, starting August 7.
South African batting coach Ashwell Prince was unavailable for the upcoming Tests due to personal reasons, which is why Imraan Khan received this opportunity. Cricket South Africa has not only named him as the temporary batting coach but also as the batting lead, meaning he will have a more proactive role even when Prince is available.
Not many fans know about Khan, but he is a former South Africa international player. Here are five interesting facts about the new batting lead of the Proteas.
#1 Imraan Khan played 1 Test match for South Africa
Khan hails from Durban. The 40-year-old was born on April 27, 1984, and he represented South Africa in one Test match against Australia back in the year 2009.
The debutant batted only once in that game and scored 20 runs off 64 balls in an innings where South Africa scored 651. Peter Siddle dismissed him caught and bowled.
#2 Imraan Khan started his first-class career as a number 9 batter
While Khan played as an opener in his only Test appearance for South Africa, he batted at number nine on his first-class debut for KwaZulu Natal against Boland in October 2003. Popular South African players Hashim Amla and Lance Klusener were Khan's teammates in that game.
Khan bowled 25 overs in two innings and batted at number nine in the first innings, scoring 49 runs. KwaZulu Natal won that game by 10 wickets.
#3 Imraan Khan left cricket on a high note
Khan played his last List-A match for KwaZulu Natal Inland against Namibia on November 27, 2016. The left-handed batter scored a brilliant 80-ball 76 at the top of the order. Unfortunately, his effort ended in a losing cause as Namibia defended 303 successfully.
In his last first-class appearance for KwaZulu Natal Inland, Khan smacked a 110-ball 52 on a difficult surface against Northern Cape at Kimberley. KwaZulu Natal Inland won that match by an innings and 33 runs.
#4 Imraan Khan has coaching experience of 8 years
It is pertinent to note that Khan joined the Hollywoodbets Dolphins as an assistant coach in his final season as an active player in 2016. He remained the assistant coach till July 2019 before being promoted to the head coach role in August later that year.
He was the head coach of the Dolphins until yesterday. The Dolphins are yet to name a replacement for him, but they will miss Khan, under whose guidance, they won four-day series titles in 2020/21 and 2022/23, plus shared the One-Day Cup in 2020/21.
#5 Imraan Khan played against Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, Irfan Pathan, and Manvinder Bisla at U-19 level
Khan never played white-ball cricket at the senior level for South Africa, but he was a member of the South African squad that finished runners-up in the 2002 U-19 World Cup. He played five matches, scalping four wickets and scoring 10 runs.
Notably, he played against future IPL stars like Parthiv Patel, Stuart Binny, Irfan Pathan, Manvinder Bisla, Paul Valthaty, Siddharth Trivedi, and Mohnish Mishra in the group-stage match against India U-19s. His four wickets were Aftab Ahmed, Mark Cosgrove, Craig Simmons, and Rob Nicol.
