The famous Imran Khan, cricket player star-turned-politician is recovering in a hospital after falling 15 feet from a forklift during a campaign rally Tuesday in Lahore, only days before historical elections in Pakistan, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Imran Khan’s fall, which was captured live on television, showed Mr. Khan and five others being lifted up to a stage on the improvised elevator made for the rally. But Khan and his bodyguards tumbled off. The politician was rushed to a hospital where he was treated for broken bones and given a number of stitches. According to doctors, he is expected to make a full recovery but they estimate that he will be bedridden from a few days to a few weeks, according to the reports.

The incident immediately raised questions about the future of his party’s campaign. Pakistan is holding its first uninterrupted civilian-to-civilian transition of government. Despite having to end his campaign two days early, Khan gave no indication to reporters from his hospital bed that he was giving up. Despite all the media attention, some observers say he could even benefit from the unfortunate incident.

According to Mohammad Malick, a prominent Pakistani journalist who spoke to the guardian, the event maybe beneficial for Khan because, “people like the image of a fighter, of a warrior.”

Khan took this terrible fall and he’s recovering quickly – that’s a very powerful image.

The politician was an early favorite for prime minister with the young people of Pakistan, and many from the urban educated population saw him as a symbol for change. His campaign, however, had lost momentum but has recently seen renewed energy among voters disenchanted with government corruption.

After clinching the World Cup title for Pakistan in 1992, Khan quit is role as the national cricket team captain and focused his efforts on philanthropy, gaining him widespread good will among the people. In fact, the hospital where Khan is recovering now is one he arranged to have built in his mother’s name. It’s one of the largest charity-based cancer treatment facilities in Pakistan. Imran Khan has also established a modern university near his hometown, which was very well received.

Then, in 1996 Khan formed a centrist, nationalist political party called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaft (PTI), the meaning of the organization is “the movement for justice.”

Khan’s campaign platform is based on a promise to abolish corruption “in 90 days” and stop US drone strikes. His party, however, has struggled to gain seats in the parliament. It is one of the only mainstream political parties in the country that is not family-based.

The sports legend’s start power has helped elect him into parliament in 2002 under Gen. Pervez Musharaff’s regime – but it is still the only seat that his party has ever gained in Parliament. You need 172 seats in the parliament to gain a majority. He stayed mainly in the background until late in 2011, when he surprised everyone by holding a major public gathering in which tens of thousands of people showed up to support him.

According to observers, the gathering was a game changer for Khan. It’s how he started to attract local and international attention. Many stalwarts of traditional parties like Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the then-foreign minister of Pakistan, quit his party and the Parliament to be with Khan.

Khan has been criticized as a Taliban sympathizer for his antiwar policies and calls to have talks with the Taliban, and many think the Pakistan military maybe behind his rise to prominence with the goal being is to create a third party in the race. Only two traditional parties have historically dominated the Parliament in Pakistan. Khan, however, dismisses the idea as labels by the opposition.

His biggest challenge is gaining seats in the Parliament and then getting elected will mean breaking the ruling elites’ hold in the rural areas, which make up more than 70 percent of Pakistan and where he is not known. Observers, however, feel that he has a good chance at becoming a significant third force to watch. The added press and request for interviews following Khan’s fall could also help get sympathy for his party and boost voter turnout, according to sources.

According to the Guardian, what happened to Khan could benefit him more than Nawaz Sharif who is the front-runner and the head of his faction, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).

A poll published by the political magazine Herald on Wednesday showed the PTI and PML-N were virtually tied, with the latter leading by less than a percentage point among the 1,285 people surveyed, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Khan has a shot at becoming a prime minister of his country, Jonah Blank of the think tank RAND Corp. said at a press conference recently.