In response to mr.Rija Zaidi

“the fact is PCB (based on the input from the government) advised its players not to travel to India due to security issues.”

Ok. I agree then. So was IPL and BCCI to blame for the above? No.

So don’t make IPL/BCCI scapegoats. Blame your government.

BCCI had niot banned Pakistani players…It is PCB banned players from Participating in India and all the franchise excluded Pakistani players…The venue shifted from India to SA much later….IPL cometee auctions players and any one can register their name in the list…

Instead of begging, pleading and cribbing about India’s arrogance in not allowing Pakistanis in the Indian developed, India’s own IPL, Pakistan must try to get out of this cry baby syndrome, come to terms with reality and try to develop an international attarction called PPL. Take it as a challenge

I am afraid Pakistan cricket has lost much of its luster over the last few years. They do not have the same kind of truly world class players that made them such a household name in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Where are the Majid Khan’s, Imran Khan’s, Wasim Akram’s, Asif Iqbal’s, Waqar’s, Inzamam’s and such likes???? The present team has very few world class players, say, Younus Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Misbah, the rest are just average players. Mohd Yousuf, Abdul Razaq, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, if they come back, will be great, as they are great and most importantly entertaining players

Regarding Pak players non presence in IPL2, I must say barring Tanvir and Gul, none of them were missed. With Pakistan in a state of strife I am alarmed that its cricket may suffer a huge setback. That will be a loss and pray the situation improves for Pakistan has the knack of producing immensely talented players. Waiting to see another Imran Khan or Wasim Akram from Pakistan soon.

In response to Mr.Mohsin comment about Imran Nazir,I want to say that there is no opener in Pakistan who can be matched with Nazir for 20/20.Pakistan should have let these players in squad like Razzak and Nazir.PCB unprofeesional criteria of dealing with issues will lead them again to failure in top order because,Imran Nazir could have made lot of difference if he was selected.

This is apropos of Amit’s comment. I wonder what makes him write such things.
He should also be aware of BCCI’s hypocrisies as well. PCB supported the BCCI whole heartedly in the ICL matter and banned its prime performers from playing any form of cricket in Pakistan on BCCI’s insistence. And guess what the BCCI gave in return. Exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL-2 and a healthy role in stripping Pakistan of its right to host the 2011 world cup.

i think pakistani player perform very well. But it is a very disappointed some time pak, player do so bad playing. I think that s all the reason of team selectors.

@ Shan :
hey sorry, but did u guys host the event..? it was south africa who hosted n u guys were’nt able to host it just because of the same security reason which we pakistani’s had earlier.. !!!

I want to say that pakistan missed IPL. I, and many others hope that pakistan cricket players are included in the next year IPL,s third tournament which play in india .now the nation eyes on T-20 World cup pakistan win this mega event …inshallah

With reference to Mr Anti Trainspotter’s comments, PCB did not ban Pakistan players from participating in the IPL. The fact is PCB (based on the input from the government) advised its players not to travel to India due to security issues.

But Indians kept on repeating that PCB banned Pak players from IPL. This is certainly not true. Please don’t bend the facts to take advantage of the situation. It is just like repeating lies on all TV channels to such an extent that people tend to believe all the lies as facts.

” Baseball has the advantage over cricket of being sooner ended ” said George Bernard Shaw, at a time when this crazy thing called cricket would just go on and on. The land where this sport originated may all but have abandoned it as an anachronism; alas, the abbreviated version that has narrowed the vista between baseball game, and those who spoke the brogue in the playing fields of Eton, had to take on this uncontrolled form in the subcontinent, where the name of the game is – you guessed it – the big bucks. And again, if you go by the true spirit of the sport of Indo-Pak origin, is nothing more than the humble “gulli-danda” of yore.

I want to listen to some Indian Govt. comments on why the pakistani players were not invited to the IPL and this is game,not the rivalry,this is extremism from Indians,and secondly my point about why Imran Nazir,farhat,Razzak and Rana Naveed are not selected for World Cup,Cricket Board ,people of pakistan are not fools,We need our cricket to Rise,and these 4 players atleast should play for pakistan,atleast 20,20.

If you take into consideration the World population which enjoys playing cricket, Pakistan is the second most populated cricket playing nation in the world and the most talented one, so a ban from the Indians on Pakistani players in the IPL was a blow to the IPLs status as representing Cricket from all over the World.

I missed Pakistani players from this years’ IPL. The trinity of big hitters like Gilly-Afridi-Gibbs + Symonds was something I was looking forward to.

Also Tanvir and Guls’ express pace was missed. I didnt miss the prima donna Akhtar though.

All you Indian/Pakistani repliers, please keep politics out of this. IPL did not stop players from joining. It was a PCB decision. Also please reprimand people like Miandad who made stupid comments. This, of course, like everything corrupt in Asia, wont happen. I won’t be surprised to see him handing Player of Match certificates in future IPLs once ties normalize.

Shoaib Akhtar, if he would have been totaly fit, would have added weight to Kolkata Team and IPL…Last IPL, McCullum started the fireworks, which made the rest of the tournament popular….We need some firework from individuals….

IPL is now like Spielberg movie…all type of entertainment and jhatkas….I am sure, Pakistani players would have contributed little more, but in current cricket scenario, Pakistan lacks crowd puller in the cricket arena( like Wasim Akram)…I don’t think IPL missed Pakistani cricketers that much…Actualy, now IPL is dominated by Aussies and even Indian players are going into backburner ( Kolkata team replaced Saurav ganuly with McCullum, Bangalore Dravid with Peterson and Hyd by Gilchrist)…The way Aussies and SA people are dominating, it is turning more into International Permier league than Indian premier League…I think, it will be better for ICC to trim Test and ODI calender and arrange international 20-20 tournament using 4/5 teams from each country….

Most of the comments from Indians are sarcastic (as expected) and it seems all the Indians are feeling “over the moon” because BCCI rules ICC. Is this a reason for any celebration? In the long run this will certainly hurt the game.

IPL is an interesting tournament but surely not the end of the world. It generates a huge amount of interest particularly for Indians but it has not much to offer for people from other nations such as Australia, England and Pakistan. If the organizers of IPL don’t want Pakistan in their tournament, then it’s OK. Every Indians brings politics by saying PCB stopped Pak players not to play in India. Yes, this is true. This decision was taken by the government of Pakistan largely due to hostility shown towards Pakistanis in India but PCB or the government of Pakistan NEVER made any statement that Pakistan players should not play against/with Indian counterpart. When the tournament was shifted to South Africa, IPL could have very easily included Pak players, but this did not happen. Even the umpires from Pakistan were not selected for reasons best known to Lalit Modi. This clearly shows the hidden agenda of IPL and the organizers.

The bottom line is that somehow IPL led by Lalit Modi wanted to humiliate PCB. This is not good for sports. We all understand relations between the two countries are not good but it MUST NOT be allowed to deteriorate to the extent that there is no room left for any change for the better. As far as relations between PCB and BCCI are concerned, unfortunately it seems both the boards are heading towards the point of no return. Is this good for either India or Pakistan?

Majority of the ppl dont watch ICL. IPL is a success bcos it has engaged a layman into watching cricket. Its cricketainment!

Unfortunately ICL is a flop my friend.I loved that feel when Lahore Badshahs won but it was not world class.I feel pakistan should also create such a tournament and make it a world class success.The problem is we people who are holding Pak cricket for ransom. PCB is always neck deep in an internal issue — where is the chance for Pakistan cricket to develop?.I feel IPL still missed Pak cricketers.

We need to retrospect the issues we face and we should deal with them and work hard to come over that .Miandad should be banned from Pak cricket and i am sure we will be the best team ever..

Well IPL miss Imran Nasir talent I think If any franchise have seen his batting they should contact him for the future Tournament

Dear Pakistani Friends,

IPL is all about entertainment and if you don’t perform in that tournament then it doesn’t matter who you’re. The best example is Sachin and Sanath Jayasuriya of Mumbai Indians. They didn’t perform well (by their standards) this year and critisized by cricket fans all over the world. Shahid Afridi, Shoeib Malik and Misbah didn’t perform well in last year’s IPL so I believe the owners were not interested in them as well. Also, IPL is not about national pride, it’s about self pride and proving your skills against the best. I believe majority of people from India don’t watch ICL. They don’t care who is playing and who was man of the match. The number of people watching ICL games in the stadium says everything. India has enough crazy crickets (Harbhajan and Sreesanth) so we don’t want Akthar or Asif to create more controversies.
Please take responsibility for your own actions and be accountable. Most of pakistani cricket fans and PCB are always in denial and blames BCCI for everything.

Good Luck for Pakistani team in T20 worldcup.

An Indian cricket fan

I fully agree with ‘Abdullah M’ that Indians shouldn’t be too cocky about their position in world cricket, but the self righteousness of this article and the behaviour of some of your cricket officials is provoking. Who cares if Pak players weren’t playing in the IPL?. I’m sure Pak cricket fans missed them, i won’t deny that. But, going by local(SA) attendance and tv viewership worldwide, the IPL was a success, Pak players notwithstanding. So be it. What is the point of this article?. If you guys are so proud and taken the IPL ban as an affront, then this blog should never have been there. I feel the best revenge is success. Instead of always playing the blame game, why don’t you guys try to outdo the Indians in the management of the game?.I think you’re a better cricket team anyways. Good luck in the T20 World Cup.

It must be true that pakistanis missed their players in IPL. But, apart from them i dont think anyone else even had a ‘missing pak players’ syndrome at all. Who cares dear?

I am not sure if IPL missed pak players or pak players missed IPL and all the money or pak fans missed pak players in IPL.

I am really confused after reading this article.

My Indian friends her are,talking about their extra edge on cricket they have and proudly say that India is the SO called ‘Super Power’in cricket.Wait a minute…….You talk about resourses, I talk about skills.Agreed that cricket is more popular in India than in Pakistan that doesn’t mean India is the best.History has it all, Pakistan have proven harder than the Indians and have uto70% matches in the ODI’s.Pakistan has a better overall skills capabilites compared to India, thus I request my friend to please respect eachother.At the end, I would like to say that Pakistan players have rightly taken the step to stand against the IPL organizers and sue them.

I am of the opinion that politics should be kept away from sports. How do we justify being the largest democracy and secular country and still indulging in such petty politics of denying participation of sportsmen with no fault of theirs. I sincerly hope that Pakistan cricketers are included in the next year’s IPL tournament which will be held in India.

yes we miss pak players.
i specially miss umar gul.

1.I missed the Pakistani players in IPL. If the Pakistan’s players were allowed to play, the spectators enjoy cricket more in IPL tournament.And the result was different, I think.
2.I hope that Pakistan will win the T twenty world cup 2009, Inshalallah.

We love Cricket and we should respect Pakistani Players and their talent

Yes, we missed Pakistani players. I m from RR fan and I think we lost b/c we did not have services of Sohail Tanver. I hope Mr. Modi will not become politician and will keep game away from politics otherwise we will be suffering. Please keep in mind India and Pakistan should work together so that what happened in Lohore with SriLankan Team should not happen in Mumbai. I have strong feelings that Cricket lovers are always human lovers and good neighbors.

Truly speaking i really felt the Absence of Pakistani players in IPL2. Even some of the Indians who are my colleagues told me this time there is no fun as there are no Pakistani players.
For the reason i didn’t watched any of the Match of IPL2. And whoever who watched that comment that’it was too bore’

India is a cricketing superpower. Everyone knows its India who controls ICC so Pakistan should rather concentrate on its domestic cricket and should forget about IPL because people of India will not tolerate Pakistani players in Indian Premier League.

I am an idian and I am deeply in love with cricket. I would say I really missed Pakistani Players in IPL. Mr. Modi acted politically may be under influence from some Powerful BCCI authorities. No league is complete without all world class players playing it and this is what happened in IPL. It looked like a unsour pickle without great Pakistani players.

Who missed Paki players? IPL is a hit a major success, the whole world and the top players participated, so who cares about Pakistanis?
The truth is cannot even dream about hosting such an important event.

In replying to Amit’s comments, I think you should also realize the situation in India is also not good. The cancellation of Australian Tennis Team Tour to India is a proof of that. Also IPL’s shift to SA is one of the so many proofs. The same is the problem in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, although not too bad but the thing is that for the sake of Cricket in South Asia, all these four countries have to be together, which unfortunately is not the case.

I think you are absolutely right Mr Imran Yosuf, but don’t forget everything in life is all about money. The reason why pakistani cricketers joined icl was purely because of money. Obviously, they could have played first class cricket in Pakistan with less salary and also teaching their fellows how to become a proffesional player. We don’t need the talent of Inzi, Yousuf, Razzqa overseas we need them in pakistan so we as a country can develop. Apparently, who cares about the nation when lucrative deals are more important?

It is rather funny that the author thought Pakistan is missed at IPL. The author is not aware that Pakistan is literally kicked out of International cricket and it has its own policies as nation to blame. On the top of it,Pakistan unfortunately does not have sensible people in charge.It is either mad Miandad or unstable Imran Khan.I sorely miss a genuine great like Wasim Akram who is not only legend but also epitomises gentlemanly behaviour.

By the way having returned from IPL semifinal, I can tell you with absolute certainity that Pakistan is not missed and will not be missed even in future IPLs. I do not think Pakistan players are wanted that badly.IPL has superstars like GILchrist,Symonds and Hayden apart from south Africa and Srilankan stars.

Its not games or common culture that binds nations but common values!!!! Cricket comes later and it can wait ….even for decades.There are far greater things that pakistan needs to concentrate now-most importantly the existential threat posed by internal war.Instead of playing in IPL, Pakistan can create its own leagues and concentrate internally.It does not have to play IPL to play cricket!!!!

Mr. Sumant, seems to only see one side of the coin a typical new indian fan, probably someone who started watching cricket with the start of IPL.
Yes the PCB did not allow the pakistani players to go to India because of security reasons, but Mr Modi played more politics than cricket to easily say that its too late to sign in pakistani players when IPL was taken to SA. Even in the middle or later part of the IPL2 there were players signing contracts and joining their teams in the later part of the tourney.
Mr. Modi is more of a politician than a real cricket ambasador , if he was sporting enough he should have tried his best to coin in the pakistani players in the IPL, not only that his latest victms are the sialkot stallions who he had previously invited to play 20/20 in october. Now it seems its impossible as there is no enough time to get a new team in the tournament.
IF IPL 2 was taken to a tltally new country with in a month, these two issues seems to be very very small for Mr. Modi

I dont think I missed pakistani players in IPL, not even once. Except for Tanvir no body performed well last year and were not good value for money. People like Afridi tried to create rift in Deccan chargers camp.Lot of international class players did not even get a chance to play one match.I think IPL should cut down on pool of players and save the money.

Pakistani players were not missed in IPL2… infact all those (eg. ponting, hussey etc.) who were part of IPL1 and were not present in IPL2, were not missed a bit… IPL is all about cricket entertainment and not about individuals…
what bemused us most was the comment by Mr. Miandad on IPL and match-fixing… reminded everyone of the fox and the grapes…

I love cricket, I have been following cricket for over 30 years.I did not watch any IPL match this year,as there was no Pakistani player.There was a time when Asian nations were together.BCCI has the money and power and Unfortunately it is using it in the wrong way, instead of using it for the betterment of cricket and especially for the Asian region.ICC is too much influenced by BCCI,the same way it was influenced by the white countries in not too distant past.May be in few years some other board becomes more powerful and offers more money than BCCI to ICC than ICC will be influenced by that board.The beautiful game of cricket is being slowly destroyed by this money and power business.

Yes we Pakistanis did miss our players in the IPL but we ourselves are responsible for it.
We should not blame India for it.

Re: Prakash’s comment. You keep saying that the writer does not have the right to express other people’s opinion and “did you conduct a survey or what?” and yet you keep making claims on behalf of other people and “I don’t need to conduct a survey for that”. what does that even mean?

i completely agree with the yousuf’s comment. Without pakistan or any other cricket playing country any tournament will be without lusture. now again india is launching T20 tournament in oct without pakistan. it is very sad to know for fans

yes indeed! we want to see pakistani cricketers playing everwhere; because as a team or an individual they use to play with high spirit and emotions. so young age people eager to them; especially “Imran Nazir” the way he use to play. Shoaib akhter, Shoaib Malik…… Shoaib Malik is a wonderful as well as attacking player. I would eagerly like to see him as a captain again!

Bt we did not miss Pakistani players in the IPL at all.

indeed an eye opening article

The article truley speaks of the loss to pakistan cricket when great players are not considered for their own national team instead are given importance by leagues such as ICL and IPL simply because they know more about their talent then the PCB itself. So why not should they be out representing Pakistan on their own if PCB does not care? truley this year IPL was not as good as last year when Pakistani players showed that why they are called the best, when Lahore Badshah showed its power in ICL. I guess PCB is just good in wasting talents and sticking up to their ego.

Mr. Imran you are right, but i think we should glamorize our own cricket so that our players will be utilized and compensated.

South Africa were 23-years away from international cricket but when they came back they came with bang, only because they don’t wait for favor from international community. I accept that it will be a challenge, but that’s what life means.

Game is always bigger than the players that is what we believe in INDIA.

Its the game which is winner not the idividuals.

So nobody is missed.

Next year if MecGrath doesn’t want to play, so be it.

Naren
Mumbai

Does the ICL still exist?

Great article…I agree. We Indians missed Pakistan’s players in our IPL. We hope that the situation between us improves and next year we have an even better tournament.

I’m not quite sure I understand. You seem to think the IPL was somehow incomplete because the Pakistani component was missing. I assure you it was a resounding success. And, similarly the 20/20 tournament being run by the PCB will hopefully also be complete without any Indians in it. The PCB is quite entitled to invite, or for that matter Not invite any team it wants to. In fact, as an Indian I would rather not have any Indian players in Pakistan at this time because of the security situation. The PCB I suppose for the same reason did not allow Pakistani players to participate in the IPL event!!

Unfortunately ICL is a flop my friend.I loved that feel when Lahore Badshahs won but it was not world class.I feel pakistan should also create such a tournament and make it a world class success.The problem is we people who are holding Pak cricket for ransom. PCB is always mired in an internal issue — where is the chance for Pakistan cricket to develop?

Nice Thoughts Imran.
I am of a View that there is still time, they should include Imran Nazir and Razzaq In place of Salman Butt And Fawwad Alam.
They Should Consider Country’s Sporting Future and The Chances We Would be having by the inclusion of these couple of master blasters in a FOrmat Exclusively made for such types.

Why does everything have to be grandiose with a purpose and a cause?.This is entertainment and nothing else. Sport should be fun and engaging. The 20/30 format has done just that. I don’t care if it is the ICl or the IPL. if the IPL is more successful, so be it and if the Pak players didn’t get a chance to play and earn some real money, tough luck. Let them blame their country and it’s policies if they want to, not the IPL. Sour grapes?.

POOH!!! I am not sure what the writer wanted to say here. Absolutely confusing.. I can just say more good cricket more fun… Long live cricket… !!

“Everything a spectator could ask for. Everything, that is, except Pakistanis.” – Well, who gave you the right to say that the spectators missed Pak players? Did you conduct a mass survey or what? The fact is, the overwhelming majority of cricket fans across the world DID NOT miss the Pak players – and I dont need to conduct a survey to prove this.

“I couldn’t help but cast my mind back to last year’s ICL tournament and think, somehow, that was more fun.” – you felt that last year’s ICL was more fun only because it had Pak players and an exclusive Pakistani team paying. Same point again – the world does not think last year’s ICL was more fun. cmon, be manly enough to accept things as they are-certainly, cricket fans think this IPL was more fun. Again I really dont need to conduct a survey to prove this.

“but nobody believes they’re fighting for the pride of, say, Bangalore or Mohali.” – Please dont say “nobody believes…”. Are you giving your opinion alone or are you representing the cricket fans worlwide?

i want to say that imran nazir should be selected in pakistan team 20/20 world cup

I agree the pakistanis were missed. I really wish to see them back in action next year. The world looks like a more agreeable place when India and Pakistan are not in loggerheads with each other.

On a different note, I am bemused by the statements made by Miandad. First he calls IPl a joke and then he is angry with India for not including Pakistan in Champions League. Why would he want Pakistan to be part of an elaborate joke?

I agree with you. ICL was WAY better than IPL. Since beginning I am not a supporter of IPL, not because they have more money but the way they have treated ICL/Kapil Dev and players who were associated with it. And they are doing their best to bully ICL, I just hope ICC sees that but for now they are just being the pawn of BCCI.

@Humzah.

This is the attitude, which has pushed Pakistan into the brink of failure.

Why do you blame India for everything that happens in Pakistan. In fact, it’s the insiders (Taliban) who are wreaking havoc in Pakistan.

The government has acknowledged that Pakistanis were involved in the Mumbai attacks. Still, people like you believe in these absurd conspiracy theories.

Do all Pakistanis a favour and never blame India for everything that happens in Pakistan. Please, kindly stop the nonsense of blaming India without providing proof.

I can’t believe that the writer watched IPL, inspite of BCCI showing high handedness. Their arrogance and the way they undermined PCB and Pakistani cricketers is humiliating to put mildly.

My friend what ever u say but u have to understand that when PCB doesnt act in mature way then what do you expect from BCCI…One example is of your great Miandad …he is saying security situation in pakistan is same as in india, bangladesh and sri lanka. How can you then expect leniency from BCCI. I am very happy we didnt see any Pakistani in IPL