‘A one-off voice is often a drop in the ocean, destined to disappear overnight without leaving a ripple.’
This is the reasoning put forth by Greg Chappell for getting together 13 other international cricket captains to write for better facilities for incarcerated former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan.
‘When the news reached me of the dire circumstances surrounding my old friend and rival Imran Khan, I realised that a single lamp in the wilderness would not suffice. To pierce the gathering gloom surrounding one of cricket’s greatest luminaries, I knew I had to assemble a chorus of voices, a collective of captains whose shared history could not be ignored amid the winds of political indifference,’ Chappell, a former Australia captain, wrote in ESPNCricinfo.
Imran, a former Pakistan prime minister, has been imprisoned since 2023 on 186 legal cases. It had been alleged that his family was not allowed to meet him and there wasn’t proper access to medical or legal facilities. The premier all-rounder of yesteryear is said to have lost most of the vision in his right eye.
‘This is not treatment befitting a former national leader, nor is it the dignity owed a global sporting icon who has given so much to the world. It was this gnawing sense of injustice that prompted me to reach out to my fellow captains,’ Chappell wrote.
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He contacted around 20 people, and most of them agreed to lend their names to the letter Chappell drafted asking that Imran be treated better and given all facilities that he was entitled to.
‘While some felt the political connotations were too complex, 13 joined me with a staggering alacrity. Within minutes of my message, names like Allan Border, Michael Atherton and Sir Clive Lloyd were added to the cause.’
Chappell, one of the greatest batsmen ever to emerge from Australia, singled out Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev for special praise.
‘Despite the significant pressure they face in their country on matters to do with the neighbour, they did not hesitate for a second. They remembered their friend and their countless battles on the subcontinent, and they chose to stand by him,’ he added.
Stressing that the letter was ‘a human-rights statement based on the values of fair play and decency that the game of cricket taught us,’ Chappell said what they have asked for ‘are not radical demands; they are the basic requirements of a civilised society.’
He believes that the legends of cricket have a duty even after their playing days are over.
‘The names on our appeal carry a magical aura and an authority that persists long after our physical prime has faded. We are the custodians of a legacy, much like the art historians who sought to protect masterpieces from the ravages of war. If we allow one of our own to be disappeared and treated with such callousness, we are failing in our duty to the soul of the game. We are allowing the fabric of our shared history to be unravelled by the hands of those who do not value the principles of sportsmanship.’
