PCB Complains to Sky Sports Over Imran Khan Interview During Test
The Pakistan Cricket Board has lodged a formal complaint with Sky Sports after the broadcaster aired an emotional interview with Imran Khan’s sons during the lunch interval of the second Test at Lord’s – a move that briefly threatened to spill from the television studio onto the field of play.
According to ESPNcricinfo, officials at the PCB went so far as to weigh up an extraordinary act of protest: instructing Pakistan’s players not to return after the interval if the segment went to air.
PCB fury over lunch‑time broadcast
The 18-minute interview, conducted by former England captain and Sky presenter Michael Atherton, featured Suleiman and Kasim Khan speaking candidly about the health and safety of their father, the former Pakistan prime minister and World Cup-winning captain. Imran has been in prison for nearly three years, with his family repeatedly voicing alarm over his medical treatment.
Sensing trouble, the PCB is understood to have contacted Sky before the lunch break to object to the broadcast. The warning was stark: if the interview ran, Pakistan’s players could refuse to take the field for the post-lunch session.
Sky initially held the piece back. The tension hung over Lord’s as the interval ticked on. Then the broadcaster pressed ahead and aired it. By the time the programme ended, Pakistan’s players were already preparing to resume, the afternoon session scheduled for 2.40pm local time, and any threat of a boycott receded.
Atherton had recorded the interview on Wednesday in the Writers’ Room at Lord’s, with Sky trailing it in advance of the Test. Pakistan’s domestic rights holder, PTV, chose not to show it.
Imran Khan’s treatment under the spotlight
The row has erupted against a backdrop of rising concern in Pakistan over Imran Khan’s health.
His sons have gone public with demands for proper medical care, while his sisters have also challenged the conditions and treatment he is receiving in prison. Last week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered that Imran be moved to Islamabad’s Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. Instead, he was taken to the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), given a check-up and then returned to jail.
The family say the Supreme Court’s directive was not properly implemented and have called for Imran to be examined by his personal physician, sharpening the political and human-rights dimensions of a saga now playing out on global television screens.
Former captains close ranks
The controversy has breathed new life into an international appeal on Imran’s behalf.
Twenty-two former international captains have written to Pakistan’s current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, urging the government to guarantee appropriate medical care for the man who lifted the 1992 World Cup. The signatories form a formidable list: Atherton, Allan Border, Michael Brearley, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Alastair Cook, Michael Gatting, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Adam Gilchrist, David Gower, Nasser Hussain, Clive Lloyd, Arjuna Ranatunga, Andrew Strauss, Steve Waugh and John Wright among them.
Their intervention follows an earlier appeal in February, signed by 14 former captains. According to ESPNcricinfo, that first letter drew no response from the Pakistan government. This new, expanded missive underlines how sharply opinion within the game has coalesced around Imran’s treatment – and why a lunchtime interview at Lord’s carried such political charge.
Pakistan tighten their grip at Lord’s
While the storm rumbled off the field, Pakistan’s players delivered a hard-nosed, disciplined performance on it.
After winning the toss and choosing to bowl, they squeezed England to 248 for nine by stumps on the opening day. Mohammad Abbas led the way with four wickets, his relentless line and length dragging England into a grind they never fully escaped. Another three-wicket haul from the supporting cast kept the home side under constant pressure.
England clung on through half-centuries from Jamie Smith, who made 61, and Jordan Cox with 55, the pair dragging the total to something competitive after regular wickets had shredded the top order. Each time a partnership flickered, Pakistan’s seamers found a way to break it.
By the close, with England one wicket away from being bowled out, Pakistan held the upper hand in the Test – even as their board locked horns with the host broadcaster.
The question now is whether the rest of this Lord’s Test can stay in the hands of the players, or whether the battle over Imran Khan’s treatment will keep dragging cricket’s oldest stage into a very modern political fight.
