The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has lodged a formal complaint with Sky Sports after they broadcast an ­interview with Imran Khan’s sons, Kasim and Sulaiman, during their ­coverage of the first day’s play of the second Test against England at Lord’s.

In the interview, Khan’s ­sons raised concerns about the Pakistan government’s treatment of their father, the country’s former prime minister and World Cup-winning cricket captain, who has been held in solitary confinement for the past three years having been ousted from power in 2022. They said they feared for the 73-year-old’s life.

The 18-minute interview, conducted by former England captain Mike Atherton on Wednesday, took place in the Writers’ Room in the pavilion at Lord’s where a portrait of Imran hangs. It was broadcast during the lunch break at Lord’s on the rain-delayed first day.

The chairman of the PCB, Mohsin Naqvi, is also Pakistan’s Minister of the Interior. The exact nature of the PCB complaint is unclear, but Sky, who are aware of the complaint, declined to comment when approached by The Athletic. Pakistan have been contacted for comment.

Imran’s deteriorating health has drawn focus in recent weeks as his sons, both from his first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith, step up their efforts to secure him proper healthcare having voiced fears he may not survive prison. There have been concerns an eye condition, about which he has been complaining for some time, is worsening to the point that there are fears he may be losing much of the sight in that eye.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered him to be admitted to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad last week. “We were cautiously optimistic,” Sulaiman told Sky. “(But) our fears were confirmed when instead of being taken to the private hospital, where he was meant to be taken, he was just taken to a government medical facility for a few hours, and then taken straight back to jail.”

Kasim added: “In reality it was an hour check up by government officials who said: ‘Great, he’s OK’ and then said we will now send him to the independent hospital, Shifa. Instead they left all the doctors waiting, our auntie waiting, who is a doctor, and sent him straight back to jail.”

Imran Khan celebrates Pakistan’s victory over England in the 1992 World Cup final (Joe Mann/Allsport/Getty Images)

Imran made his international debut for Pakistan back in 1971 and assumed the captaincy in 1982. He took 362 wickets and scored 3,807 runs in his 88 Test matches, and led his country to victory in the 1992 50-over World Cup final against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Last week, 21 high-profile former international cricket captains — including Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Greg Chappell, Steve Waugh and India’s Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev — wrote a letter to Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif urging him to ensure Imran receives proper healthcare in prison. That correspondence was a follow-up to a previous missive penned by 14 captains back in February which went unanswered by the Pakistan government.

The Pakistan government rejected allegations that Khan had been mistreated in prison or denied contact with his family and lawyers in a statement issued to the Associated Press last week, insisting that the former prime minister had received more than 900 visits from his family, lawyers and doctors since his imprisonment began in August 2023.

Argentina midfielder Exequiel Palacios has become the first World Cup winner to sign for Ipswich Town after joining from Bayer Leverkusen.

Palacios, 27, left the Bundesliga club for an undisclosed fee and has signed a four-year contract with the Premier League newcomers.

He was part of the Argentina side that both won the World Cup in 2022 and reached the final this summer while he also won the Copa America twice with his country.

“This is a club with great ambition and I am excited to play football in England and compete against some of the best clubs and players in the world,” Palacios said.

Palacios, Ipswich’s 11th signing of the transfer window, started Argentina’s 3-1 win against World Cup debutants Jordan in the group stage in his only appearance at the 2026 tournament.

Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil added: “He is a player who has had real success at the top level of the game, winning the biggest prize of all in the World Cup, as well as major trophies at club level.

“That experience will be vital for us as we continue to work to improve the squad this summer.”

NEW YORK — New York Yankees star Aaron Judge said he doesn’t plan on going on a rehab assignment before returning from the fractured right rib that has kept him out of the lineup since June 2.

“Why waste at-bats?” he said Thursday afternoon, speaking to reporters in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium before the finale of a four-game series against the Houston Astros.

“Why waste anything down in a minor-league game? I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I’ve got a sense of what I need to do on the field and how to manage it.”

Judge pointed to how he missed nearly two months with a toe injury in 2023 and didn’t do a rehab assignment. After he returned that season, he posted a .966 OPS in 57 games.

“We’re in a good spot,” he said. “There haven’t been any setbacks, which has been the greatest thing.”

Judge said he doesn’t expect the Yankees to fight him on not playing in any rehab games. Cody Bellinger played in just two rehab games after missing nearly a month with a strained left hamstring.

“I feel like if I tell them I’m ready to go play,” Judge said, “I think we’re ready to go play. I’m not a pitcher. I’m a position player. I get my reps down here in the cage, and I’ve been to every game. I’ve been sitting there in the dugout watching every game.”

“He said that to me, too,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If and when we get to that point, we’ll work through all that.”

Boone cautioned that part of playing in rehab games is also “just building guys up and getting them used to playing and stuff.”

“There’s also creative ways of doing that, too, though,” Boone said. “As we get closer to that point, we’ll make that decision collectively.”

The Yankees’ bats have missed Judge badly. They went into Thursday ranked 26th in runs scored (290) and second-to-last in wRC+ (89) since their first game with Judge out of the lineup on June 2.

Judge also said he expected to return to the lineup as a full-time right fielder and that he’ll “play smart” when it comes to diving. The 6-foot-7, 282-pounder suffered the injury diving for a fly ball but tried to play through the pain for weeks.

“I’m going to still go out there and make every play I can,” he said.

He added that even if he doesn’t return with the same amount of power or bat speed after being away so long, “even if it’s a tick off, I think it’s still better than nothing.”

The 34-year-old said he believes he’ll be able to substitute rehab games with a bevy of other workouts, including facing a Trajekt pitching machine, which uses a screen to imitate specific MLB pitchers’ deliveries and pitch movement. He said he could also stand in while rehabbing pitchers face live hitters.

“There’s plenty of options to get that timing back,” he said. “I’m not really expecting it to take me too long to get the timing back. Hopefully it’ll be quick and we’ll get back out there.”

Boone said it’s been good for him knowing that Judge hasn’t had any setbacks.

“The biggest thing now is, again, not so much even the injury as it is building the body up to handle the rigors,” the manager said. “Because, again, being down for a month and a half and not doing much other than riding a bike. … So, it’s getting that running up to speed. Getting all the strength in line. Getting used to swinging 20, 30 (or) 50 times a day. Getting all those muscles used to that. That’s the biggest thing. So far, seems to be going well.”