Pakistan's cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has confirmed that he will assume the guardianship of Tyrian, his alleged love child, following the death of her mother Sita White early this week in New York.

Imran said White had asked him and his wife, Jemima, ten days before her death if the couple would be the girl's guardians.

"I and my wife Jemima accepted her request and decided to take Tyrian into our guardianship, although Tyrian would live in America," Imran, who heads the Tehrik-e-Insaf party, was quoted as saying in the Daily Times.

Imran in the past has denied that he was the father of the 12-year-old, but went to New York after learning of White's death.

He had flown to Los Angeles after the multimillionaire White collapsed, having apparently suffered a heart attack near her home in Beverly Hills.

He said White was a friend of Jamima and her parents for a long time.