Imran Khan at the age of sixteen debuted in Lahore. He began playing for his home teams, Lahore A (1969–1970), Lahore B (1969–1970), Lahore Greens (1970–1971), and finally Lahore (1970–1971), at the beginning of the 1970s.

Khan played cricket for the University of Oxford's Blues squad from 1973 to 1975. Khan represented Worcestershire in English county cricket from 1971 to 1976. Khan also served as a representative for Pakistan International Airlines (1975–1976, 1980–1981) and Dawood Industries (1975–1976) during this decade.

He was a player for Sussex from 1983 to 1988. At Edgbaston, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England in June 1971. He made his debut in a One Day International (ODI) match three years later, in August 1974, at Trent Bridge, when he was playing England for the Prudential Trophy. Following his graduation from Oxford and his time at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and earned a spot on his home country's regular roster, which he used to play against Australia and New Zealand in the 1976–1977 season.

After the Australian series, he went on tour in the West Indies, where he got to know Tony Greig, who signed him up for the World Series Cricket with Kerry Packer.

When he placed third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling competition held in Perth in 1978—behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux, and Andy Roberts—his reputation as one of the world's quickest bowlers began to take shape.

Khan was one of the first bowlers to use the reverse swing bowling technique in the late 1970s. He taught this tactic to Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, two bowlers who went on to perfect it and make it popular.

As a bowler, Khan first bowled at a medium pace and with a comparatively chest-on motion. Nevertheless, he put a lot of effort into changing his action to a more classical style and building muscle to enable fast bowling.

From January 1980 until 1988, when he became an all-around fast bowler, Khan was at the peak of his fast-bowling career. Imran took 236 test wickets at an average of 17.77 during this time, including five 10-wicket hauls and eight five-wicket hauls.

Compared to Richard Hadlee (19.03), Malcolm Marshall (20.20), Dennis Lillee (24.07), Joel Garner (20.62), and Michael Holding (23.68), he had a higher bowling average and strike rate.

Playing against India in January 1983, he achieved a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Khan's form and performance during this period rank third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings, even though the rankings were determined retrospectively (International Cricket Council (ICC) player ratings did not exist at the time).

At the peak of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan succeeded Javed Miandad as captain of the Pakistan cricket team. During his tenure as captain, Khan led Pakistan to victory in 14 Test matches, defeat in 8, and a draw in the other 26. In 139 ODIs, he participated and finished with 77 wins, 57 losses, and one draw.

Khan guided the side to their first victory in a Test match played in England at Lord's in 28 years in the second match. The pinnacle of Khan's career as an all-rounder and fast bowler came in his first year as captain. In Lahore in 1981–1982, he took 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka, which was the finest Test bowling performance of his career. In a three-Test series against England in 1982, he also set records for both bowling and batting averages, averaging 56 at bat and 21 wickets taken.

During his year as captain, Khan took 88 wickets in 13 Test matches during the 1982–1983 series. He sustained a stress fracture in his shin during this same Test series against India, which prevented him from playing cricket for over two years. He recovered by the end of 1984 thanks to an experimental treatment supported by the Pakistani government, and in the latter half of the 1984–1985 season, he made a triumphant return to international cricket.

Khan led Pakistan to victory in its first-ever Test series in India in 1987. Later that year, Pakistan won its first series in England. His team also managed three respectable draws against the West Indies in the 1980s.

The 1987 Cricket World Cup was co-hosted by Pakistan and India, although neither team advanced past the semifinals. Following the World Cup, Khan announced his retirement from the game of cricket. General Zia-Ul-Haq, the president of Pakistan, asked him to take back the captaincy in 1988, and on January 18, he declared his intention to rejoin the team.

Khan led Pakistan to another successful tour in the West Indies shortly after taking back the captaincy, a tour he has described as "the last time I bowled well". Taking 23 wickets in 3 Test matches against the West Indies in 1988 earned him the title of Man of the Series. Leading Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup was Khan's pinnacle moment as a captain and player. In a batting lineup that was frail, Khan elevated himself to bat in the top order alongside Javed Miandad, but his bowling output was insignificant. Khan, who is 39 years old, claimed the decisive final wicket.

In 75 Tests, Khan accomplished the all-rounder's triple (300 wickets and 3000 runs), which is the second-fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. In addition, with a batting average of 61.86, he holds the second-highest record ever for a batsman in Test cricket who bats at number six in the order. In January 1992, he participated in his final Test match for Pakistan at Faisalabad against Sri Lanka. Six months after his final One-Day International, the historic 1992 Cricket World Cup Final versus England in Melbourne, Australia, Khan announced his definitive retirement from the game.

With 88 Test matches under his belt, 126 innings played, and 3807 runs at an average of 37.69—six centuries and eighteen fifties—he finished his career. His best result was 136. In Test cricket, he was the first bowler from Pakistan and the fourth in the world to take 362 wickets. He participated in 175 ODI matches, scoring 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. 102 not out was his best score. His finest bowling performance in an ODI innings in a losing cause was a record-breaking six wickets for fourteen runs.

The world records for most wickets taken, highest bowling strike rate, best bowling average in a Test match, best bowling stats (8 wickets for 60 runs) in an innings of the Test, and most five-wicket hauls  in an innings of wins are all held by him as a captain.