New Delhi: Former Indian cricket captains Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar are among 22 former international skippers from around the world who have written to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressing concerns about the deteriorating health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. The letter, whose signatories also include Australia’s Chappell brothers and Sir Alastair Cook from England, seeks required medical treatment for Khan without delay as well the restoration of weekly family visits.
Khan is 73 now; he was arrested on 5 August 2023 on a corruption charge, and has been imprisoned at Adiala Jail, near the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The charges against Khan have since grown into an array, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts, all of which he says are politically motivated. In January 2025, however, Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were convicted of accepting large sums of money and prime land in bribes from the Al-Qadir Trust. Khan received a 14-year prison sentence and was fined a million Pakistani rupees. His wife was sentenced to seven years in jail.
The captains have three major requests: one, Khan’s health be assessed by a board that includes his personal physicians, as directed by Pakistan’s Supreme Court; two, weekly visits by Khan’s family, again as the apex court ordered; and three, treatment that the board orders be “provided without delay”.
On 18 August, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the authorities to shift Khan from Adiala Jail to Shifa International hospital, a privately run facility by 20 August. Two days later, Khan’s sister Uzma filed a petition against the Sharif government after he was sent to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a medical examination instead of a private facility. He was brought back to Adiala Jail, with doctors declaring him 100 per cent medically fit.
A day after the petition was filed, Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), alleged that an advised cardiac investigation of Khan was not conducted despite PIMS having the wherewithal to do it.
“Concerningly, Mr Khan’s hospital stay lasted only a few hours. He was examined by a state-appointed team rather than the board the court had directed, declared ‘medically fit,’ and returned to Adiala Jail before that board could complete its work,” the letter says.
Khan is admired as one of the world’s greatest-ever all-rounders and, arguably, Pakistan’s greatest ever cricketer who led his nation to its first cricket World Cup win in 1992. The recent turn of events has prompted former cricket rivals to write the letter, dated 23 August. A similar letter, raising concerns Khan’s health and treatment was written by 14 former international cricket players in February.
The former captains say they have written to Sharif “not as politicians, but as former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field”. Former Australian cricketer and Indian coach Greg Chappell, who has shared a special camaraderie with Khan, initiated the letter on both events. Former England captains David Gower, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton also signed the letter. Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga is the other South Asian name. Former Australian women’s team captains Alex Blackwell and Belinda Clark are also among the signatories. No former Pakistani cricketer signed either letter.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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I understand that Imran was a top cricketer and had good relationship with our all time greats. But have they not see his rhetoric against India post his cricketing day. They should take cognizance of that.