Imran Khan's Sons Speak Out During Test Match
At Lord’s, where cricket usually drowns out everything beyond the boundary rope, the lunchtime conversation on day one of the Test dragged politics and prison walls straight into the heart of the game.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has lodged a formal objection with Sky Sports after the broadcaster aired an 18‑minute interview with Suleiman and Kasim Khan, the sons of former Pakistan captain and ex-prime minister Imran Khan, during the lunch interval. The segment, conducted by Michael Atherton, focused on Imran’s health and his safety in prison – and it sent a jolt through an otherwise routine opening day at the Home of Cricket.
A broadcast that nearly kept Pakistan off the field
Atherton recorded the interview at Lord’s on Wednesday, the eve of the Test. Sky Sports had already teased the conversation in its pre-match coverage, flagging that it would be shown during the game.
That plan immediately ran into resistance.
According to Cricinfo, the PCB contacted Sky Sports before lunch on Thursday, objecting to the decision to broadcast the interview during the Test. The board went further than a polite protest: it warned the broadcaster that Pakistan’s players might refuse to return to the field for the second session if the segment went to air.
For a time, that threat appeared to have impact. Sky initially held the interview back. Then, during the lunch break, the broadcaster pressed ahead and showed it in full to its UK audience. The feed did not go into Pakistan, where state broadcaster PTV holds the rights for the series.
The match resumed as scheduled. The players emerged. But the warning from the PCB underlined just how combustible the situation around Imran has become, and how quickly it can spill into cricket’s most traditional spaces.
Imran’s sons raise alarm over his condition
On screen, the tone was personal and anxious rather than political grandstanding.
Suleiman and Kasim spoke to Atherton about their father’s condition in prison, outlining fears for his safety and the adequacy of his medical care. They described their efforts to secure proper treatment for the 1992 World Cup-winning captain, who has now been incarcerated for around three years.
Their public interventions have grown more frequent in recent weeks, mirroring rising concern within the family about Imran’s health and his access to doctors they trust. The interview at Lord’s was the most visible and high-profile of those appeals, beamed out from the very ground where Imran once commanded Pakistan’s attack.
Court order, hospital switch and mounting anger
The backdrop is a legal and medical dispute that has become increasingly fraught.
Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran be admitted to Shifa Hospital in Islamabad. That directive appeared clear. What followed only deepened suspicions among his relatives and supporters.
Instead of being taken to Shifa, Imran was transported to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a check-up, then returned to prison. His sisters and sons say the authorities ignored the court’s specific instruction and have continued to demand that he be assessed by his own doctor.
Their anger has been echoed in the cricketing world. Former international players have begun to speak out, arguing that whatever the politics, the former Pakistan captain must receive proper medical care.
Former captains rally behind Imran
Atherton is not just an interviewer in this story; he is one of Imran’s most prominent supporters.
Last week, 21 former international captains signed a letter to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging that Imran be given appropriate medical attention while in custody. The signatories spanned eras and continents, including former skippers from India, Australia, England, New Zealand and the West Indies.
It was not the first such appeal. In February, 14 former international captains had written to the Pakistan government on the same issue. Reports say that earlier letter drew no response.
The latest intervention, and Atherton’s decision to give Imran’s sons a platform during a marquee Test, have pushed the matter into a far more public arena – one where cricket’s governing bodies and broadcasters now find themselves squarely in the spotlight.
PCB silent, government defiant
For now, the PCB has kept its counsel in public. The board has not issued any statement on its complaint to Sky Sports or on the reported threat of a player protest.
The Pakistan government, by contrast, has repeatedly rejected claims that Imran is being mistreated or denied proper access to family and legal representatives. Speaking to the Associated Press last week, officials said Imran had received more than 900 visits from relatives, lawyers and doctors since his imprisonment in August 2023.
Two narratives now run in parallel: a family and a group of former captains insisting that a cricket icon is being denied the care he needs, and a government adamant that due process and humane treatment are being upheld.
Lord’s, usually a sanctuary from such battles, briefly became the stage on which they collided. An 18-minute interview, a threatened walk-off, and a Test match caught in the crossfire of a far bigger fight over the fate of one of the game’s most storied figures.
