{"id":874518,"date":"2026-08-31T02:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T02:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874518\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T02:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T02:38:11","slug":"imran-khan-cricket-news-2026-pat-cummins-and-greg-chappell-join-campaign-for-health-care-of-pakistan-icon-after-england-test-boycott-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874518\/","title":{"rendered":"Imran Khan cricket news 2026, Pat Cummins and Greg Chappell join campaign for health care of Pakistan icon after England Test boycott threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins<\/a> has joined a growing campaign calling for Pakistan<\/a> cricket<\/a> legend Imran Khan to receive urgent medical care.<\/p>\n

Khan, 73, has been locked in a jail cell since 2023 and there are fears his health is deteriorating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been in jail since 2023.\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

The legendary former captain became Pakistan\u2019s prime minister in 2018, but was ousted in 2022 and then jailed the following year over allegations of corruption<\/a>, which he\u2019s maintained were politically motivated.<\/p>\n

He is reportedly stuck in solitary confinement, with his family alleging authorities are refusing basic human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is being tortured, mentally tortured with this solitary confinement, prolonged isolation,\u201d Khan\u2019s son Sulaiman said in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday, sitting alongside his brother Kasim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they hiding? We want to see proof that he is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was almost a revolt in London on Friday when Sky Sports aired an interview with Sulaiman and Kasim Khan during the lunch break of Pakistan\u2019s Test match against England.<\/p>\n

According to reports, the Pakistan government was fuming and threatened to order the players to boycott the remainder of the match. Test captain Babar Azam denied he was aware of any such threat, and the players finished the match as scheduled.<\/p>\n

But King Charles has called a meeting with the Pakistan team to discuss the issue and any grievances later this week. There is still one Test remaining in the series.<\/p>\n

Khan\u2019s daughter has previously called on King Charles to condemn the treatment of her father.<\/p>\n

Last week, 23 cricket legends signed a letter and sent it to the Pakistan government, pleading for Khan to receive medical attention.<\/p>\n

Aussie legend Greg Chappell<\/a> was one of the signatories.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been in isolation for three years. I don\u2019t know how anyone deals with that,\u201d Chappell told The Grade Cricketer podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cImran was as strong, mentally and physically, as anyone I played cricket with or against, but I don\u2019t know how you deal with absolute isolation for three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really about keeping it in people\u2019s minds. This isn\u2019t a political thing from our point of view, this is about human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody should be kept in those conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the Chappell comments, current captain Cummins weighed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding my support here to GC (Chappell) and the other former international captains,\u201d Cummins posted to social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the court ordered medical assessment be allowed to run its course, and that family visits continue. I hope Imran Khan is treated with the dignity anyone deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins is the first active captain to publicly join the campaign.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pat Cummins and Babar Azam shake hands.\u00a0nna\\zgates<\/p>\n

Australia has a gruelling 18 months of cricket ahead but Cummins and his team are not scheduled to face Pakistan during that period, unless both teams make the World Test Championship final.<\/p>\n

The public statement from Cummins could be a risk to any such fixture given the Pakistan government\u2019s response to last week\u2019s Sky Sports decision.<\/p>\n

Khan was taken to hospital for a health check last week but was reportedly taken to a public, government-run facility rather than the private hospital his family were told he would attend.<\/p>\n

His sons fear their father\u2019s actual health condition is being kept secret and want an independent doctor to provide an update on his physical and mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is the humanity in not allowing someone to receive basic health checks, or basic treatment?\u201d Kasim Khan said on Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pettiness, the petty torture techniques – not allowing him to have new books, phone calls with his children. We\u2019re trying to make as much noise as possible, so the world can see how corrupt it is, and their complete lack of respect for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s third Test against England begins next Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins has joined a growing campaign calling for Pakistan cricket legend Imran Khan to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-874518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}