Imran is not noted for his nostalgia, in fact he is said to have donated many of the trappings of his illustrious cricket career to help fund a cancer hospital.

This was a project which he announced to the world exactly 30 years ago as he collected the Cricket World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

"By winning this World Cup, personally it means that one of my greatest obsessions in life, which is to build a cancer hospital," Imran said.

"I am sure that this World Cup will go a long way towards the completion of this obsession," he added.

The 1992 World Cup broke new ground in many different ways.

Most significantly, it marked South Africa’s return to international sport after an exile of over 20 years.

It was also a year when South Africa was readmitted to the Olympic Games after an even longer absence.

The decision to allow them back had only been taken the previous October at a special meeting of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Sharjah.

"It is not easy to find the words to when you work as hard as we work and at the end of the rainbow we get a crock of gold," South Africa’s United Cricket Board President Geoff Dakin admitted when he heard the news.

"It has been 21 years since we last played official international cricket," he added.

"It is very emotional for us to be back."

It had been almost twenty years since Australia severed the last official cricketing links with South Africa when a tour was cancelled in 1971.

The World Cup tournament in 1992 was the first to be played in the southern hemisphere.

The decision to choose Australia and New Zealand as joint hosts had been made in 1989.

"The first three cups were held in England and the last on the sub continent so I think it has reached the stage where it could be alternated around the member countries on a worldwide stage," Australian Cricket Board chief executive David Richards said as the bid was proposed.

The ICC agreed with that philosophy and also decided that the opening match of the competition would be in New Zealand but the Final would be in Australia, either in Sydney or Melbourne.

Competition was to last for a month.

In a change to previous tournaments, the first phase was a round robin in which all the teams would meet one another.

Before the first ball was bowled, the squads came together for a photoshoot on HMAS Canberra in Sydney Harbour.

This was to show off the new colour uniforms that each team would wear in the tournament which in another first, was to feature floodlit cricket for the first time.

They had all been made by Illustrated Sport Clothing (ISC), an Australian company which had won the contract to provide the team uniforms for all the participants.

Although each team wore a distinctive colour each shirt had an identical yoke with the colours of the rainbow and the World Cup symbol clearly displayed.

It was symbolic of the new commercial era.

It seemed light years away even from the 1987 Final when both teams played in traditional whites and champions Australia wore their time honoured baggy green caps.

All such tradition was swept away for this tournament.

There was even a new glass World Cup trophy, displayed by New Zealand’s supreme fast bowler Richard Hadlee who toured the cricket ground in Auckland in a vintage car at the Opening Ceremony.

Strange as it may seem now, the competition was sponsored by tobacco giants Benson and Hedges.

New Zealand were first out of the blocks and the home crowd were delighted when New Zealand beat their great rivals by 37 runs.

For Australia, it soon became a tournament to forget. 

Meanwhile New Zealand went from strength to strength and lost only one match in the round robin phase,

England, with Ian Botham opening the batting, beat India in their opening match and continued in the same impressive vein.

For South Africa, Allan Donald took three wickets against Australia as the newcomers won convincingly and embarked on a fast track to the semi-final.

Among those watching them do so was Donald Woods, the author of Cry Freedom, the story of murdered anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, later made into an Oscar-winning film with Denzel Washington.

Woods had been commissioned to cover the tournament for BBC World Service.

"We hit the ground running when we landed last month and we have not stopped running since," said South Africa captain Kepler Wessels.

The group stage took almost a month and when it was over South Africa had qualified for the semi-finals to meet England under the lights in Sydney.

It was to be a thrilling encounter, but with a finale which left tournament organisers open to ridicule.

England scored 252 for 6 in 45 overs after the match had been shortened because of rain but the interruption to the South African innings would prove decisive.

With 13 balls remaining in their innings, the South Africans still needed 22 runs with four wickets in hand.

It seemed certain to be a nail biting finale but then the rains came.

Ten minutes later, play resumed, but now the electronic target was adjusted to 21 off one ball to the astonishment of everyone watching.

What was even more frustrating was that the tournament regulations actually provided for a reserve day. The Australian host broadcasters made sure that never happened.

"There's really no point in complaining about the rule, because that's the way it's been for the whole tournament," Wessels told a post-match media conference.

Supporters nonetheless turned out in force to greet the team as they returned home to South Africa, but the fallout from the semi-final continued to be felt in Australia.

"The glaring inadequacies in the regulations were highlighted last night," said reports in the Australian press.

Martin Johnson of The Independent newspaper wrote that it was "a finish so bizarre, that had the martians landed at Sydney Cricket Ground, they would have concluded there was no intelligent life on earth and gone home."

Robin Marlar, a Sunday Times writer who later served a term as President of Marylebone Cricket Club insisted: "It was a clear case of a television station dictating rather than responding to a sporting programme."

Such was the outcry that there were discussions with both teams about adjusting the regulations for the final.

Eventually World Cup Organising Committee chairman Malcolm Gray announced the result of their deliberations.

"It was considered unfair to all countries competing in the World Cup if the rules were changed only for the final," the statement said. 

"It is therefore agreed there will be no changes."

The farcical ending to the semi final did later prompt the administrators to change to a new formula, devised by statisticians Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis.

Though undeniably complex, it was regarded as a fairer way of adjusting the numbers in matches affected by the weather.

Pakistan, the other finalists had been the beneficiaries of the existing bad weather rules.

Rain rescued them from defeat against England after being skittled for 74.

They won only one of their first five matches and even lost to India, the bitterest pill for a Pakistani to swallow.

Imran told his team to play like "cornered tigers" and even wore a T-shirt to emphasise the message.

Yet gradually, key members of the team had hit form and in the semi-final Pakistan defeated New Zealand.

Although the final was played on a weekday, a crowd of 87,000 was present at the MCG. 

Imran top scored for Pakistan with 72 as England were set a victory target of 250.

They were beaten by a combination of pace bowler Wasim Akram and spinner Mushtaq Ahmed who took three wickets apiece.

It fell to Imran to receive the trophy from ICC chairman Colin Cowdrey who advised him "you must not drop it."

When the team landed in Karachi, they were draped in garlands as they came through the airport terminal.

Outside, fans climbed trees and stood on buildings and vehicles as the team passed through.

The team was also received by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Few would have imagined then that one day Imran would also become Premier.

Victory in 1992 was considered by many to be the greatest sporting moment for the country since Pakistan first won Olympic gold in hockey.

There are some who might feel the triumph was even more significant.