On the cricket fields on which he found glory and built his fame Pakistan's Imran Khan was an aggressive leader -- lithe, relentlessly swift and frequently lethal with ball and bat.

It is a trait that he took to politics, which he adopted as his profession a few years after stepping down in 1992 as the man who led the national side to its first and only Cricket World Cup victory. The crowds loved their golden boy, turning up in the thousands to hear him speak. As voters, though, they were less generous.