With a little help from the Army, Imran Khan on strong wicket before Pakistan elections

The popular Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan Niaziis contesting for the 2018 general elections in the country on anti-corruption and anti-poverty campaign.

According to reports,Khan enjoys the popular support of the country's army. And the pre-election polls say he is gaining ground in the run-up to the elections.

Born on October 5, 1952 in Lahore, Pakistan, Khan played international cricket for 20 years between 1971 and 1992.

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He most famously led Pakistan to their one and only Cricket World Cup win in 1992 as captain.

Khan developed aninterest in cricket during his college days at the University of Oxford where he attended Worcester College.

After retiring from the sport in 1992, Khan married British socialite Jemima Goldsmith in 1995. The bride was the daughter of billionaire financier James Goldsmith from which he has two sons. His first marriage with Jemima lasted until 2004.

In 2015, Imran Khan married former BBC weather presenter Reham Khan. This marriage lasted for nine months.

He married for the third time in 2018 to Bushra Wattoo, a woman local media called a "faith healer".

Khan founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) in 1996 and became the party's national leader. He ran unsuccessfully for the 1997 general election.

Khan supported general Pervez Mushraff's military coup in 1999. He, however, later changed his mind about Musharraf after the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called the 2002 referendum "blatantly rigged". Still, Khan was elected to office in 2002 after contesting the seat for Mianwali district and served as an opposition member of parliament for Mianwali until 2007.

Khan was arrested by the police in 2007 for speaking against Mushraff's imposition of emergency rule in 2007. He was handed over to local authorities and released days later.

Claiming that the elections were not being held in a neutral manner, he did not participate in the general elections that followed the next year. He was therefore left on the sidelines once again.

During the 2013 election, he staged huge rallies across Pakistan, receiving support from hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. The people used to gather to hear his message of change and ideology of a "new Pakistan".

Though he failed to win the 2013 elections, the PTI emerged as the country's third largest party. He was again elected to parliament in the election.

Khan later alleged that the 2013 elections that landed Nawaz Sharif in a landslide victory were rigged in favour of the Pakistan Muslim League.

He led a rally of supporters promising Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation and investigation into alleged electoral fraud.

Influential Canadian-Pakistani cleric and scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri became a de-facto ally of Khan, also calling for the Sharif's resignation.

Khan called the 2017 disqualification that forced Nawaz Sharif out of power as a " win for democracy". He, however, derided Sharif's choice of his brother Shahbaz Sharif to eventually succeed him, comparing the country's tradition of political dynasties to "a form of monarchy".

(With inputs from Reuters)