No Pakistani in IPL is a matter of shame
Pakistan are the current T20 world champions. Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Mohammed Aamer, Saeed Ajmal and company played some enthralling cricket to claim the trophy last year. Since then, Pakistan have seen another exciting batsman emerge on the horizon: Umar Akmal. Therefore, it defies logic that nobody wanted to buy the 11 Pakistani players in the IPL 3 auction on Tuesday.
What's the reason? Let us go through what has been proffered by the men and women involved with IPL. Some team owners have said that the Pakistani players had a problem of availability during the period. That's nonsense. Unlike the top Aussie players, they are available for the entire duration. In fact, West Indian Kemar Roach, a Deccan Chargers buy, will miss the first two games. That's because the Zimbabwe tour of West Indies gets over on March 14 while IPL 3 begins on March 12. The second Deccan Chargers game will be held on March 14.
Another gentleman was heard mouthing that the Pakistanis were not chosen because this was a short auction. There were too few players to be bought, he said. This logic doesn't hold either. The truth is that the owners spent sums as high as $720,000 and $610,000 for the likes of Parnell and Roach, while ignoring Aamer and Gul. Are we saying that the former two are better bowlers than Aamer (who is also emerging as a handy bat) and Gul? Or that the Pakistanis are not even worth $100,000? And have we forgotten that Afridi was the man of the series in the T20 World Cup 2009.
One logic being offered is that franchisees were not keen to have Pakistani players because there is an element of uncertainty involving them. Simply put, the relationship between the two countries is already edgy and could always get worse. In that case, the Pakistani players might go back. So why take the trouble?
Even this argument is specious. Sure, nobody would want to invest a huge amount in a 'risky' player. But then isn't investing over $750,000 in Keiron Pollard any less risky? What's the guarantee he will succeed? What about investing $750,000-plus in Bond, once a great bowler, now extremely injury prone. Let us not forget he's currently injured too. Besides, he is 30-plus and certainly not as quick as he used to be. Surely investing $300,000 or whatever in Mohammed Aamer would have been less risky - even though nobody can ever rule out problems in relations between the two countries. In a squad of 20-plus players, surely that was worth the risk.
Undeniably this is a shameful episode in Indian cricket history. And if it is a question of politics, then Indian authorities should have been upfront and open about it. Lalit Modi should at least say sorry to the Pakistani players. That's only in the fitness of things. It would be great if those who are proactive about peace in the Indian government ensure that Pakistani players are able to play in IPL 3.
Most of the current Australian players will be missing out on IPL 3 due to international assignments. Now, if we don't have any player from the champion T20 side in the world, then IPL 3 will indeed be vastly devalued.
Without the Pakistani players, Modi and company can still have the spectacle. But for me, IPL 3 will be nothing more than a bonfire of corporate vanities.
