Former India captain Sourav Ganguly congratulates Imran Khan on election victory

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly on Friday congratulated Pakistan cricket legend Imran Khan, whose party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were voted to victory in the general elections of Pakistan after 22-years of political struggle.

The 1992 World Cup winning captain is poised to become to become Pakistan’s 19^th Prime-Minster after his party PTI single-handedly won 115 out of the 272 seats in the national assembly.

“Congratulations to him. He has been fighting for a long time and now he is set to become the prime minister of Pakistan,” said Ganguly at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s annual awards ceremony in Mumbai.

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One of the greatest all-rounders of the game, Khan’s party has however fallen short of the 137 seats required to secure a majority and will require a coalition either with Nawaz Shariff’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) who won 63 seats or with the Bilawal Bhutto-led Pakistan People’s Party which won 43 seats.

Khan himself declared his party’s victory on Thursday and in his first speech after the results were out, he trouched on the Kashmir issue, saying that Kashmiris have been suffering for long and vouched for a better relations with India.

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar also took to twitter to congratulate the 65-year-old former cricketer on his party’s victory in the general elections.

Imran is the epitome of setting the bar high and reaching it. Congratulations & good luck to my cricketing hero, Imran Khan!

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 27, 2018

“Imran is the epitome of setting the bar high and reaching it. Congratulations & good luck to my cricketing hero, Imran Khan!” said the former batsman in his congratulatory tweet.

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Earlier, U-19 World Cup winning bowler Ishan Porel was given the U-19 Cricketer of the Year Award, while Dipti Sharma won the Best Women’s Cricketer.

Former Bengal fast bowler Barun Burman was also bestowed with the Kartick Bose Lifetime Achievement Award, during the ceremony.