We were in awe of Tiger Pataudi, recollects Imran Khan

Kolkata: World Cup winning former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan revealed that during his formative years he looked upto Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi for inspiration.

Addressing a gathering at the Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture here today, Imran said there was certain enigma about Tiger Pataudi whose academic qualification was equally noteworthy as his cricketing exploits. "I grew up admiring two persons. One was my first cousin Javed Burki and the other being Mansoor Ali Khan... The duo played together at the Oxford University about a decade before me." "My idol (Burki) would tell me if Mansoor Ali Khan had not lost vision in one eye, he would have broken all the records. The quality of strokes he could play with one eye, mere mortals cannot play..." He further said that what made Pataudi different was he had quality education along with playing international cricket, something that had helped on the field. "I had always looked up to him. Excelling in education and playing international sport is the most difficult thing to. It takes incredible willpower. But once you do it you have huge advantage," he said. "I had an advantage of quality education. I also had the advantage of going to the Oxford University. Quality cricket and education both complement each other." "The greatest thing education does it structures your mind. The key behind successful people is how you handle failure rather than success. Power of analysis is sharpened by education. I could analyse my own mistakes so you could correct them." PTI