In recent years, he has mostly shed the playboy image of his younger days, marrying his spiritual adviser earlier this year and making public shows of devotion to Islam.

Supporters lined the roads leading to the three rallies Khan spoke at on Thursday night, swarming his entourage to fling rose petals as he entered each venue.

His speeches are still peppered with cricket references but also have appeals to religious conservatives in the country of 208 million. And he has courted traditional power brokers with large followings in Punjab, the country’s largest province that is key to any general election victory.

Khan’s political fortunes were transformed last July when the Supreme Court disqualified three-time premier Sharif in a case that judges only took up when Khan threatened to paralyze the capital Islamabad with his supporters.

    Sharif is due to return to Pakistan on Friday to be arrested in a move that he hopes will boost his PML-N party ahead of polls, but Khan dismissed the move as futile.

He also rejected increasing allegations by both the PML-N and the PPP that the country’s “establishment” is pushing politically motivated corruption cases against their leaders.

“(The) public is demanding accountability of corrupt leaders of political parties,” Khan said. “Now, each time there is an attempt to hold them accountable, they all get together and start saying its anti-democratic, and in this case they are saying it’s pre-poll rigging.”

Khan’s party has pulled ahead of others in one opinion poll and he said of his chances in the election: “I’m quietly confident that this time we’ll do it. I am hopeful, I am confident, but still, the match is not over until the last ball is bowled.”

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