Cricket Captains Rally Again for Imran Khan’s Medical Care

A group of 21 former international cricket captains, including Indian legends Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, and Dilip Vengsarkar, have sent a second letter to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. They are urging the full implementation of Supreme Court orders concerning the medical treatment and family visits of the imprisoned former prime minister and cricket icon, Imran Khan.

BREAKING NEWS: 22 Former international cricket captains have once again written a letter to Pakistan PM over the treatment for Imran Khan. They first wrote a similar letter in February and this one comes after Pak allegedly didn’t completely comply with SC directions.
They have… pic.twitter.com/9Q6bKLF7qc

— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 23, 2026

The appeal, dated August 23, 2026, comes six months after a similar plea by 14 former captains. This time, the group has expanded, with seven more signatories joining the cause. They stress that their intervention stems from “a bond forged on the cricket field,” not from a desire to interfere in Pakistan’s political or legal processes.

A Court Order ‘Not Fully Implemented’

The captains’ letter references a recent Supreme Court directive that ordered Khan, 73, to be transferred to a hospital for examination by a medical board that included his personal physicians and his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan. The court also reinstated weekly family visits.

However, the cricketers expressed serious concern that these orders were not carried out in full. According to the letter, Khan’s hospital stay lasted “only a few hours,” and he was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board mandated by the court. He was subsequently declared “medically fit” and returned to Adiala Jail before the court-ordered board could complete its work.

Three Specific Demands

In their letter, the former captains have outlined three clear requests for the Pakistani government:

1. Independent Medical Assessment: That the medical board directed by the Supreme Court, including Khan’s own doctors, be allowed to complete a full and independent assessment of his health, particularly regarding the reported loss of vision in his right eye.
2. Uninterrupted Family Visits: That the weekly family visits reinstated by the court be honoured without any interruption or administrative delay.
3. Prompt Treatment: That whatever treatment is recommended following the medical assessment be provided without delay.

“We’re not asking Pakistan for anything unusual, just that a court order most countries would take for granted is actually carried out,” the letter states. It concludes by noting the former premier is 73 and has been in custody for over three years, adding that “the basic decency of ensuring a court-ordered medical process is actually completed is not, in our view, a controversial request”.

The letter has drawn signatories from across the cricketing world, including Australia’s Allan Border, Greg Chappell, and Steve Waugh; England’s Michael Atherton, Alastair Cook, and Nasser Hussain; and Clive Lloyd from the West Indies, among others. Imran Khan, who led Pakistan to World Cup glory in 1992, has been in custody since August 2023 following multiple legal convictions, which he and his party maintain are politically motivated

                                               

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