New Delhi: Former Pakistani cricketer and Imran Khan’s teammate for nearly two decades, Miandad broke down while speaking about the former prime minister’s imprisonment in a video on Friday, making an emotional appeal for his release. He is the first Pakistani cricketer to publicly speak out for Khan since his imprisonment in 2024.
Miandad’s comments came amid renewed calls for Khan’s release over concerns about his health. Speaking in an interview on the Narrative YouTube channel, Miandad rejected suggestions that his former teammate was corrupt.
“He is an honest man. He is not someone who engages in corrupt practices, otherwise he would have done a lot of things,” Miandad said. “What will happen if you let him out? Will he eat or damage someone? He is also someone’s son. I always think about what he must be doing.”
At one point during the interview, Miandad became visibly emotional.
“What can I say? You have made me cry,” he said. “This is from the bottom of my heart. I will do anything for you.”
Miandad said that his long relationship with Khan had given him a close understanding of the former captain’s character. The two played together for Pakistan and spent months alongside one another during their county cricket careers in England. Their careers also overlapped when both served as Pakistan captain. Miandad became captain before Khan.
“There was no enmity at all,” Miandad added.
He recalled the years they spent together in county cricket, saying they would sit together, eat together and spend six or seven months at a time in one another’s company before returning to the Pakistan team.
“We used to understand each other very well,” he said.
The former Pakistan captain repeatedly appealed for a resolution to Khan’s legal and political troubles, saying that whatever disagreements existed should be addressed through dialogue.
“Unfortunately, I pray to Allah that everything gets solved,” he said. Khan led Pakistan to its first and only men’s Cricket World Cup title in 1992. Miandad was one of the central figures of the team.
“He took Pakistan from one place to another,” he added.
Pakistan welcomes Miandad’s support
Miandad’s comments were welcomed by the Pakistanis who said they were happy that someone from the country’s cricketing fraternity had finally chosen to speak up.
“Finally Pakistani great Javed Miandad coming out in support of Imran Khan,” Mohammad Zubair, former governor of Sindh wrote on X.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan’s political party, also praised Miandad.
“The ‘street fighter’ fighting for his Captain!” the party added on X.
For others, it was a heartbreaking moment.
“Not gonna lie, seeing Javed Miandad break down while talking about Imran Khan is genuinely sad,” a Pakistani X user, Abdullah, wrote. “Being around the same age and having spent so many years playing alongside him, he probably understands better than a lot of ppl how difficult these last 3 years must have been for IK.”
The reaction from the cricket world came as the dispute over Khan’s treatment spilled into Pakistan’s ongoing cricket series against England.
Khan’s sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, appeared in an interview with Michael Atherton on Thursday during Sky Sports’ coverage of the England-Pakistan Test at Lord’s. They expressed serious concerns about their father’s health and prison conditions, alleging that he was being kept in isolation for more than 23 hours a day and that authorities were attempting to keep him imprisoned and silence him.
Pakistan’s cricket board then refused to allow the national team to take part in the scheduled Test at Lord’s before later reversing its decision. PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the interior minister, is considered a close aide of Pakistan army chief Asim Munir.
The cricket world responds
The PCB’s initial outburst brought the issue further into the spotlight and prompted more cricketers to speak out in support of Khan. Australian captain and fast bowler Pat Cummins Friday too publicly expressed support for Khan, becoming the first active international cricket captain to publicly back calls for proper medical care, family access and dignified treatment for the imprisoned former Pakistan leader. Usman Khwaja too criticised the PCB’s response to the Sky Sports interview.
“Adding my support here to GC and the other former international captains,” Cummins wrote on X. “I hope the court orders medical assessment to be allowed to run its course, and that family visits continue. I hope Imran Khan is treated with the dignity anyone deserves.”
Cummins also shared footage of former India coach Greg Chappell who said Khan was “struggling after being in isolation for three years.”
At least 21 former international cricketers, including Indians like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar, had earlier signed an appeal expressing concern about Khan’s health.
(Edited by Janaki Pande)