All 14 ex-captains played strokes that drew emphatic applause. But the open letter to the Pakistan government about the need to treat jailed Imran Khan well is deserving of kudos from a world audience

A 2018 image of Imran Khan during an interview with AFP in Islamabad. PIC/AFP

Imran Khan was credited by his peers as the only man capable of welding a Pakistan team to play as a unit in the true sense. On Tuesday, fully realising the importance of coming together to urge the Pakistan government to treat their fellow cricketer well in jail, 14 international captains made their request public in an open letter.

All those 14 ex-captains played strokes in their playing days that drew emphatic applause. But this was a masterstroke that attracted kudos from a world audience.

While every one of these greats has demonstrated leadership when it mattered most, here are stories of five in particular. Let’s start with the cricketing senior of them all — Ian Chappell, who first played for Australia in 1964. Chappell, who faced Imran regularly in World Series Cricket, played the captain for life role to perfection through his handling of former teammate Terry Jenner’s predicament in 1992-93.

When a rehabilitated Jenner, after a jail term for embezzlement, showed hesitancy in arriving at the main gate of the Adelaide........

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