A terrible thing happened during the year 2008 of our Lord.
Militants from a banned Pakistani terrorist organisation stormed the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai as well as 7 other locations including a Jewish centre, a women’s and children’s hospital and a school. In the end, 164 people lay dead.
A morbid view of humanity at its worst. Horrible stuff and something the world should never forget. It was India’s Bali bombing or London’s tube attack.
In what could have been well founded fears, the PCB pulled its 11 contracted players from the 2009 IPL. The rationale was that the players could be the target of revenge attacks.
That any sane person would attempt to link a nation’s cricketers and a terrorist act is beyond me, but tensions in these parts are deep rooted.
No government made the call to withdraw Pakistani players from the IPL. A sporting body did. The PCB.
It’s not the first time this has happened and sadly it won’t be the last.
Remember when Australia and the West Indies refused to play in Sri Lanka during a World Cup and forfeited their matches?
Dubai only exists on the cricketing map due to the security fears of playing in Pakistan itself. Sri Lanka learned in 2009 how unsafe that part of the world can be when they were shot at while riding the team bus.
Australia hasn’t toured Pakistan since 1999.
Move forward to 2014. There are still no Pakistani players in the IPL.
We have the following absurd situation.
– IPL team owners will not bid for Pakistani players, blaming the fact that they may struggle to get Indian visas
– The BCCI has wiped its hands of any responsibility for the issue, blaming the Indian government for not providing certainty.
– For its part, the Indian government has commissioned the BCCI to present to it a way for the Indian / Pakistani
cricket rivalry to be relaunched.
The BCCI has never requested pre approval for visas and the Indian government has not been proactive in giving certainty. Given the perceived risks of buying a player and not being able to play them, IPL team owners are not bidding on Pakistanis.
Its a classic blame game.
This is absurd. It is administrative incompetence at an amazing level.
Cricket is the loser.
A cynical person could conclude that the situation stinks of the BCCI using a political situation to show strength and control over the PCB. Given the BCCI’s form, this angle cannot be completely ignored.
It wouldn’t take much to fix the problem.
The BCCI could engage with the Indian government to provide visa certainty. The Pakistani players would then be free to make their own safety assessment of playing in the IPL. Those that put their names up for auction would then be free to be drafted by IPL team owners, without the fear that they will never be allowed to enter the country.
The BCCI, as custodians and owner of the IPL have the responsibility to fix this. However, given they have never been an organisation focused on the greater good, it probably won’t happen any time soon.
Or maybe those Indian administrators will prove me wrong.
Yeah, nah.Follow @denniscricket_
1.) “Those that put their names up for auction…, without the for that they will never enter the country” – I don’t know if you missed a word or I read it wrong (without the for). Thought I’ll point out, in case it’s an error.
2.) There is a third angle of a political scenario. It’s not much to do with the Indian ruling government per se, but fanatic powerhouses who have a following in their respective states. These are “religious” political parties who have a mass following among the slums. Quite a few of these believe in vandalism or putting their point across through violence. They have threatened team owners as well as the administrators of breaking in, damaging the pitch, hurting members and stopping the game altogether if they include Pakistani players. This is also the reason Pakistan hasn’t played at Wankhede stadium for the longest time, nor do they ever fly in from Mumbai. Indian superstar and owner of franchise KKR Shahrukh Khan faced their ire when he first picked Shoaib Akhtar, way before the above mentioned attacks. They also went down to the level of associating it to religious bias for Akhtar and other Pakistani selections. This fear is one of the main reasons franchise owners will never burn their hand, even if they get an official nod from the BCCI. The situation is better now, in the sense of the media and government making hooliganism harder to get away with, but end of the day, ruling government is compromised of politicians as well. A businessman dealing in a multi million rupees/dollar project is unlikely to go down this road, even if the gates ever open.
1) Fixed the typo. Thanks
2) You can always analyse to extreme degrees any problem. However, the solutions need to be practical, easy to understand and easy to implement.
If there is a will by the BCCI for the IPL to truly be the leading domestic T20 tournament in the world, then they need to make this happen. The cricket community and media will not allow violence to continue as you rightly point out.
I tweeted this at the start of this season https://twitter.com/MehtaMorphosis/status/456799234805616641
Great article and good timing as well. Keep them coming! 🙂
This comment above does provide some additional details. Good article Dennis.
Thank You
thanks for this Dennis, it’s sad that point isn’t discussed more.
I don’t know how Imran Tahir or Azhar Mahmood are allowed to play but S.Ajmal isn’t. After all, neither of them are representing Pakistan in the IPL.
If the players are ready to don domestic indian colours, wouldnt you say that the animosity is one sided?
It’s very messy, yet it doesn’t need to be.
The excused that held weight in 2009 no longer hold any weight.
I really don’t think it makes a big different even if Pak players are allowed to play in IPL. Considering the fact that maximum 4 overseas players can play in the team and most of the franchise prefer Australian and West Indian players, I see very few names from Pakistan (Hafeez, Gul, Ajmal) who might have got franchise attention even if they were allowed. See Srilankan players for example, only Malinga getting chance.
C’mon!
Afridi vs Maxwell
Gul vs Malinga
Ajmal vs Someone who throws it
How can you be the best domestic T20 competition in the world without the best players in the world?
There is no threat to Pakistani players in India. They played in Mohali ’11, toured India in 2012. We all know how BCCI handles grudges (remember CSA-Lorgat?) However in this case PCB isn’t easy to handle as well, first they piss of BCCI by denying Pak players NOC after they were cleared to take part in IPL as a tit for tat by BCCI cancelling the 2009 tour which after SL tour proved to be a very good decision. And then buffoon’s like Ijaz Butt and Zaka negotiating with BCCI through media rather than behind closed doors. Sethi has done a good job ensuring 8 year plan, hopefully these two countries resume their ties.
All good points. I agree that there is no additional threat to Pakistani players over their umpires or officials. It’s about time the Indian politicians and BCCI grew up a little