My first cricket hero was Imran Khan. Now I close my eyes and replay Mitchell Starc’s bullet-paced yorkers | Shadi Khan Saif

Cricket has always been my lullaby, my shorthand for belonging. And in Starcy I have another legend to admireGrowing up in the late 1990s, I insisted my younger nephews and nieces call me Imran Khan instead of my real name – our own playful twist on traditional respect rituals. A few years later, I upgraded to Wasim Akram (naturally) and they obligingly followed. They’re all grown now, but they still call me “Mama Khan” or “Wasin Akral”- the clumsy childhood p