Imran Khan, Pakistan’s legendary World Cup-winning cricket captain, is vying to become the country’s new prime minister as voters go to the polls on Wednesday.

Leader of the centre-right Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Mr Khan, 65, is running on an anti-corruption platform against the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (PML).

His opposition is the party of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, jailed over a scandal relating to the undisclosed channelling of funds through offshore companies to bankroll the acquisition of luxury flats in London, which was exposed by the Panama Papers leak in 2015.

An interim government under PML’s current president Shehbaz Sharif, younger brother of the disgraced PM, has run the country since his incarceration.

Mr Khan founded PTI in 1996 and has served as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since 2013, proving himself an outspoken figure on many divisive social issues.

Critics of his candidacy suggest he has received excessive support as the preferred candidate of the country's powerful military. He has also faced criticism for courting a group of independent political veterans known as "electables" who will offer their allegiance to the party of the highest bidder, rather than backing candidates best equipped to serve the public.

Born in Lahore on 5 October 1952, the only son of affluent civil engineer Ikramullah Khan Niazi and his wife Shaukat Khanum, Imran Khan was sent to England as a boy and educated at Aitchison College in Worcester before attending Keble College, Oxford.

He made his cricketing debut for Pakistan aged 18 in 1971. An extremely gifted all-rounder, Mr Khan captained the national side between 1982 and 1992, leading them to glory at the 1992 World Cup at the tail end of an illustrious career that saw him make 3,807 runs and take 362 wickets.

He played for Worcestershire in English county cricket and was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2010, the same year a big screen biopic, Kaptaan: The Making of a Legend, hit cinemas.

After retiring from the sport Mr Khan turned his hand to philanthropy, working to promote immunisation programmes in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand and founding the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust in honour of his mother.

The trust opened Pakistan’s first dedicated cancer hospital in 1991.

Like Liberian footballer George Weah and Senegalese musician Baaba Maal, Mr Khan subsequently decided to put his national fame to political use, founding PTI and making headlines through his persistent criticism of General Pervez Musharraf during the period of military rule between 1999 and 2008.

More controversially, he has been critical of progressive feminist causes, advocated embracing radical religious groups (including some linked to the Taliban, earning him the nickname “Taliban Khan”) and pledged to uphold the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which can leave critics of Islam facing the death penalty.

In 2013, he led PTI protests against alleged vote rigging in that year’s general election after his party received just 19 per cent of the vote and played an integral role in calling for the criminal investigation into the business affairs of Nawaz Sharif over the Panama Papers affair.

Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Show all 22 1 /22 Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistani security personnel gather at the site of a suicide attack near a polling station in Quetta AFP/Getty Images Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A man who was injured in a suspected suicide bomb attack outside a polling station, receives medical treatment at a hospital EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Polling stations in Pakistan opened for the general election, for around 105 million constituents AFP/Getty Images Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistani politician Imran Khan, center, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, casts his vote EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistani security officials inspect the scene of a suspected bomb blast outside a polling station, in Larkana EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A Pakistani woman and her son react after her husband was injured in a suicide attack AFP/Getty Images Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Voters will have to choose from 11,000 candidates to elect 272 members of the Parliament for the next term REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), speaks to members of media after casting his vote at a polling station during the general election in Islamabad REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Bilawal Butto Zardari, chairman of Pakistan People Party visits a hospital in Larkana to meet people who were harmed in a blast outside a polling station EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing An election official marks a voters thumb before casting her vote AFP/Getty Images Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing At least 25 people were killed and 30 injured in the incident EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A polling officer shows empty ballot boxes prior to sealing them, at a polling station, in Peshawar EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing People stand in a line as they wait for a polling station to open in Rawalpindi REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A man who was injured in a suspected bomb blast outside a polling station, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Larkana EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing These elections are the second in Pakistan's history in which a government was able to complete its term to make way for another government after being ruled by military dictators for half of the 71 years of its existence since its founding in 1947 REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A rickshaw carries an electoral flag, as it rides past the mausoleum of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, early morning in Karachi REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistani security officials inspect the scene of a suspected suicide bomb attack outside a polling station during general elections in Quetta EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A Pakistani soldier checks a voters information AFP/Getty Images Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing An man walks past a wall with electoral posters in Karachi REUTERS Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing A woman shows her thumb marked with indelible ink after she cast her ballot EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Shahbaz Sharif, second left, President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party which concluded its mandate recently, lines up to cast his ballot EPA Pakistan general election: vote turns violent after suicide bombing Pakistani voters stamp their ballots at a polling station in Rawalpindi AFP/Getty Images

Mr Khan has also been a vocal opponent of American military intervention in Afghanistan and the use of drone strikes, saying US president Donald Trump “neither understands the history of Pakistan nor the character of the Afghan people”.

In his personal life, Imran Khan has enjoyed a reputation as something of a playboy, known for his friendship with Mick Jagger and marriage to journalist Jemima Goldsmith in 1995.

She converted to Islam and the couple had two children together before divorcing in 2004, after which she became a subject of British tabloid fascination over her relationships with actor Hugh Grant and comedian Russell Brand.