Heavy Price Tag of Pak Players in IPL-3
// June 24th, 2009 // 12 Comments » // Sports
Pakistani players were prevented from playing in the IPL this year after the relations between the two neighbours were soured in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. Earlier, the Indian cricket team refused to tour Pakistan after their government interfered to cancel the tour. Note that this was not due to security reasons, but because of pure politics. In response, Pakistan refused to allow its players to play in India amid security fears of they being attacked by angry Indians. This move by the government was probably a tit-for-tat, and was perceived in the rest of the world as a personal loss for Pakistan. Some players were unhappy to be denied the opportunity of making quick money, but the decision was made. Soon after, amid security concerns, the IPL was moved to South Africa and the government of Pakistan cleared the players to take the field in SA. But it was too late, Lalit Modi, the magician refused to take in any Pakistani players – there were 11 contracted at that time. Immediately, the franchises cancelled the contracts of 7 of them, while 4 remain suspended. The IPL then went ahead with all fanfare, music, dirty dancing and least of all, cricket.
Now that, out of the blue, Pakistan has produced some astonishing T20 stars, the IPL franchises have already started showing interest in them. The price tag for Pakistani players will be much much highers this time, for the IPL to be commenced in March. Younis Khan’s franchise wanted him back but the captain has already quit the T20s while they are keen to have Akmal and Tanvir back too – suddenly very keen!
Afridi and Gul will be the most expensive, while Razzaq is a hot commodity as well.
All these are of course dependent on the relations between India and Pakistan. The PCB currently isn’t enjoying friendly ties with the BCCI over the World Cup issue but that can change within days.
All said, I do believe that IPL is in fact low quality fun, non-serious cricket. After watching some IPL and the T20 WC immediately, the differences in the quality of cricket were apparent.
Some believe that cricket should take a football-like approach and have more league games. Personally, I’m more inclined towards having games between countries. It is more competitive and the stakes are much higher – if money is to be discounted.







