Imran Khan health care appeal signed by 21 cricket captains

Twenty-one former international cricket captains, including Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, signed a letter to Pakistan's government on Sunday, August 23, seeking health care measures for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.

Khan, 73, a former Pakistan cricket captain, was returned to jail on Friday, August 21, hours after being taken to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for medical checks ordered by the Supreme Court. The court had ordered the hospital visit after Khan's lawyers filed a petition raising health concerns.

The captains asked Pakistan's government to allow a medical board directed by the Supreme Court to complete a full and independent assessment, including of what the letter called Khan's reported loss of vision in his right eye. They also asked that court-reinstated weekly family visits be allowed without interruption and that any treatment ordered after the assessment be provided without delay.

The letter followed an earlier appeal in February about Khan's medical treatment. Other signatories named in the statement included former England captains Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss and David Gower; Australians Allan Border, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Adam Gilchrist and Steve Waugh; West Indies' Clive Lloyd; and New Zealand's John Wright.

Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed in a no-confidence vote. He has faced multiple legal cases since then. Khan and his wife deny corruption charges for which they were sentenced in late 2025, and Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf say the cases are politically motivated.