Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins is the latest cricketer to voice his support for former Pakistan all-rounder and prime minister Imran Khan.
Imran has been in prison for more than three years now on corruption charges, which he vehemently denies. He has been kept in isolation, and earlier this year, it was reported that he had lost significant vision in his right eye. Recently, the apex court in Pakistan ordered that Imran be taken to hospital for a check-up; however, later it emerged he wasn’t taken to the recommended facility and where he was taken, everything was done in a hurry, following which a bunch of 21 former cricketers wrote to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, urging him to treat the former captain well.
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Anyway, Cummins, one of the biggest names in international cricket today, is the latest name to join the bandwagon. What makes his participation unique is that he is still active in the international arena, unlike the 21 former cricketers who wrote to Sharif.
“Adding my support here to GC [Greg Chappell] and the other former international captains. I 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,” Cummins wrote on X, sharing a Greg Chappell video in which the Aussie legend is speaking of Imran’s ordeal.
“At the moment, he’s not getting any better. You know, from a physical point of view, it’s hard to get information but I saw a video clip the other day, I’m assuming, of his latest trip to hospital where he was put into a wheelchair to get him to, from wherever he was, to wherever he was going, and he didn’t look well at all. He didn’t look robust. He didn’t look like he could really… get around very much.
“I mean, 73 years of age, so obviously, you know, he’s getting older, but, you know, I met up with him in Pakistan 6 years ago, and he was still a strong, robust older man. That’s not the case anymore. His right eye apparently [has developed a disability]… he’s struggling. He’s been in isolation for 3 years,” Chappell, an important figure in both the petitions, said in a podcast on the Grade Cricketer Clips and The Grade Cricketer.
“I don’t know how anyone deals with that. Imran is as strong physically and mentally as anyone that I played cricket against. But I don’t know how you deal with absolute isolation for 3 years. He’s not, I don’t think, he’s allowed to read books. He’s pretty much just got to sit there and bathe himself. And he’s in the dark most of the time.
“So, that’s not good for your mental health, and you know, as your mental health deteriorates, your physical health is going to deteriorate. He doesn’t have access, or his family doesn’t have access,” Chappell added.