Match Point
Why IPL 2015 needs Pakistani players to succeed

Why IPL 2015 needs Pakistani players to succeed

As a cricket fan (not Pakistani cricket fan), I believe that the exclusion of Pakistani players is hurting the IPL.

Abdullah Ansari April 21, 2015

Cricket fans are now being treated to a dessert after the main course as the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 follows the cricket World Cup 2015.

Unarguably, the biggest and most glamorous party of league cricket is on its way and we have already seen some nail-biting contests and thrilling finishes.

Much like this year, Pakistani players have not been a part of the IPL for the last many seasons and despite initial concerns, it seems that out of its inactivity or weakness, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided not to poke this matter and leave all issues concerning the IPL to the Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI). However, as a cricket fan (read: not Pakistani cricket fan), I strongly believe that the exclusion of Pakistani players is hurting the IPL.

Here are the reasons why I think so:

1. Wahab versus Watson – the intense rivalry

Cricket is a team sport but the charm of one-on-one battles can’t be neglected. The World Cup 2015 quarterfinal between Australia and Pakistan will not be remembered for anything else but the two W’s, Wahab and Watson. Legends including Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar defined Wahab’s fiery and aggressive spell as best thing that happened during World Cup 2015.

Such an intense contest of the bat and bowl is a rarity to watch these days and it would have been a delight to witness a Wahab versus Watson rivalry in the IPL as well. Sadly for cricket fans, Wahab belongs to Pakistan and we may have to wait for some time to enjoy such a battle.

Wahab Riaz (L) and Shane Watson (R). Photo: AFP

2. Pakistani brand of cricket – impactful but inconsistent

If the Pakistani cricket team is to be defined in one word, it would be ‘unpredictable’. Discounting Misbahul Haq, our team doesn’t have consistent performers, especially with the bat, but when it comes to being impactful, there are not many teams around which can compete with the green shirts.

The likes of Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood are tailor made for T20 cricket. These players lack the patience to hold crease and develop innings but they can tear the opposition apart with little destructive cameos. Not considering them for events like the IPL seems unreasonable and, in fact, unfathomable.

Umar Akmal (L) and Sohaib Maqsood (R). Photos: AFP

3. The art of fast-bowling is incomplete without Pakistani quickies

Fast-medium or medium-fast, I don’t like these terms. The aggression of a real fast-bowler should not be diluted with a pre-fix or a post-fix of ‘medium’. However, there are not many cricketing nations who are as rich as Pakistan in producing fast-bowlers one after the other. Most of these medium-fast/fast-medium bowlers are falsely glamorised by adding ‘fast’ to their ‘medium’ pace so that they can be included in the most feared club of cricketers; the fast bowlers.

Even without front-line fast-bowlers like Junaid Khan and Umar Gul, Pakistan was able to produce classical fast-bowling performances throughout the World Cup. Barring Pakistan from the IPL has deprived fans of some scintillating fast bowling shows.

Rahat Ali (TL), Haris Sohaib (TR), Wahab Riaz (DL), Muhammad Irfan (DR). Photos: AFP

4. Shahid Afridi – the ‘X’ celebration star

If you develop a list of critics of Shahid Afridi for ODIs and Tests, I will surely be in the top 10 as I don’t think he deserves a spot in the Test or ODI squad. However, when it comes to T20, I will be on top of the list of those advocating for his spot.

The charisma, thrill and excitement associated with his presence in the game has no parallel. In fact, he has been playing in T20 mode long before T20 cricket was introduced. His ‘X’ celebration stance (celebration pose) turns the crowd into madness and omitting him from a tournament of IPL’s scale should be considered as a criminal offense. His presence in the IPL would have definitely attracted the interests of millions of his fans who tune in to cricket match broadcasts only to see him in action; they switch to talk shows as soon as he gets out.

Shahid Afridi. Photo: AFP

The repeated and continuous exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL may boost BCCI’s ego and Indian cricket fans may consider themselves bigger and better than their Pakistani counterparts, but real cricket fans are missing the Paki flavour from the otherwise decorated carnival of cricket. BCCI should understand that including Pakistani players will not only increase the fan following of the tournament but will also portray a more tolerant, understanding and accommodating picture of the BCCI.

Power and responsibility come as a package, while BCCI is enjoys the former, it should consider the latter as well.

WRITTEN BY:
Abdullah Ansari An electrical engineer by profession, Abdullah works in the oil and gas industry. His interests include international relations, global politics and debating. He tweets @ChangingTrendz (https://twitter.com/ChangingTrendz)

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (109)

Anjum Sarwar | 9 years ago | Reply look who is speaking... :-D see indian ODI against BD and hope you are enjoying... you will definately realize your tongue used for pakistani cricketers.. i think now ur Indian best team have to play gulli danda instead of cricket.. :-D

Shiju Rose | 9 years ago | Reply I honestly think that it would be great to see Pakistani Players playing in the IPL team. Unfortunately due to Border control, security issues this is clearly not possible. Perhaps in the future though. I agree that just like Isreal etc, being prone to threats from other countries and who doing a pretty darn good job at solidifying and securing their backyard..just like every international countries/states has a primary mission to protect their lands from terrorism and anti social acts etc India are just doing the same thing, tightening legislation to prevent terror related acts like the one seen in Mumbai few years back.. This all is a simple act to protect their countries rights! It all comes down to politics between India and Pakistan with the base of the issues surrounding religio acceptance! First if Pakistan wants to be on the main stage it needs to genuinely show an international acceptance of the modern times. Today, States and Countries are stiving and thriving moving away from relgious ego centric battles. It is about time that Pakistan grows up in this young, global world, integrate and have an open mind and to ACCEPT that there are millions of different tribes, religion, languages, cultures, types of food, drinks, whether harram or not harram etc and move away from a religious centric attitude or mindset or way of life. The world has truly moved on, we should move on to - but with an eye for the universe! we have refined todays world of life, we have been graced with knowledge empowering us to make a change/make a difference! k....the word religion 'who ever invented it' itself is a global sin, a phenomena, a myth and an excuse for political grudges, freedom fighting and terrorism - leading to global seperation and state downfalls and the exile of our human beings.. The ultimate truth is that We live ourlives believing what we want to believe, do what we want do and when we want to do peacefully and happily, live rightly, respecting all our neighbours, compassionate and being always helpful to all at the same time truly believing we are all the same and politics/religion is no longer important today in maintaining friendships or relationships..we have all been given a life, instead of fighting and creating enemiess learn to party up and live it up and most importantly ENJOY it because it is worth the enjoyment!!! the way to start is by loving yourself first then to love others, by this, it means, understand your worth, know that you deserve unlimited enjoyment and abundant happiness and love-once you are enlightened with this, then you'l be free and you'l start accepting others freedom..So this is all what I say is the basic level and expect Pakistan should aim to achieve this if they were to join the international stage.. an openness to international trade, culture, entertainment, equality in race, religion and women's rights and freedom of speech.. Period!

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Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Agreed.

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply I like your humble and friendly tone buddy :)

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Well, rite you are but I won't accept something which I didn't do. As simple as that. :) However, I am thankful to ET anyways for giving space to my pieces in their esteemed newspaper. So even if I disagree with them, that's goes perfectly alright. :)

sridhar | 9 years ago | Reply Nice write up. You are however banging your head against a brick wall.

Harsha Subbaiah | 9 years ago | Reply Oh no bro!!! The heading goes in a way that IPL just couldn't run all these years without you guys. First thing first get the hell down from the imaginative cloud that you treading on. Second, we are arrogant. Take it or leave it. Our arrogancy comes with our game our position and our strength to give an immaculate output. That's the idiot in me talking. Now the stable side of me says damn we need them, but not all. A few, just a few. No one talks of India Pakistan rivalry in IPL. It's teams and the passion is growing every year. So the rivalry subject gets stemmed right there. And what quality bowlers you talking about mate? The ones who get owned by bangladeshis? Stop day dreaming and get in the line. I would commend wahab riaz for his one outstanding spell in the worldcup. Then he is all gassed out. Hope he picks up the zeal back again in the county fixture. Do wanna see him in IPL. That again depends. The real me now says, y'all not worried about IPL. You just want money. And I didn't know begging comes with such arrogant ignorance and false statistics when related to IPL. On that note get a life cause crap has already hit the fan for you all. Become a better team and a better nation. Things will fall in place. God damn stop begging.

muhibawatan | 9 years ago | Reply I despise those actors/players/singers and those who like to consort with the enemy. Take their passports away

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Yes, agreed.

Yo2Da2 | 9 years ago | Reply In a show of sportsmanship, and no other irrelevant considerations, IPL should invite cricketers from all top 10 cricket teams, including those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is fair; its is sportsmanlike; it is big-hearted; and is compelling! Follow the example of Bollywood.

sridhar | 9 years ago Even if Pakistani players are invited to participate in auction, no franchise would buy them for security reasons in case right wing Shiv Sena guy starts threatening the franchise owner. Who wants aggravation right? Especially when things are going well. Besides, Pakistanis seem to forget that in IPL, nations do not matter. Team matters. A Pakistani player, if playing in IPL, would be playing for a team. There is no Indo-Pak rivalry here. I think it is a good thing but then I don't make the rules.

Abdul | 9 years ago | Reply Kya kare ? in the words of Sohail Tanveer "In Hinduo ki zahniyat hi aisi hai" We are like this only. There may be not 4 but 100 reasons for you. For us there is only 1 - We do not want you 'great' players.

Ansari | 9 years ago Yar believe me, Generalizing all of Pak players with reference to Sohail Tanveer comment is like generalizing all Indian players with reference to Vindo Kambli .. and that's not fair dude.

amartya | 9 years ago | Reply a big LOL

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply I think there are more blogs, try that also :)

Rishabh Jain | 9 years ago Taking it on the cheek. I like it. Don't worry about it but keep writing. All you need to do is research a little more and not have biases. Try reading Tahir Mehdi on Dawn.

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply NZ was also defeated by Bangladesh in ODI series. Take it ez.

Fahad Khan | 9 years ago | Reply Lol, Rahat Ali and Junaid khan are the most crap -est players in the history of Pakistan!

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply ET Blog desk, you guys really made a horrible headline .. blog doesn't say even at a single point that IPL2015 is not a success without Paki players .. :|

Sridhar Kaushik | 9 years ago | Reply This article is a joke! After the defeat in ODI against BD team, Pakistani cricket team should stop playing cricket and consider "gulli danda" as a serious alternative.

wb | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistanis are absolutely incompatible with logic and common sense. When someone is denied entry into India, they criticize Indian democracy. When someone even is cancelled in India, they criticize Indian secularism. When Paki players are not allowed in IPL, they talk criticize ICC. Such is the incoherence of their thinking.

sridhar | 9 years ago I live in US and my wife's Pakistani colleague (in her office) keeps complaining that he is not allowed to enter India despite having a US passport!

Ansari | 9 years ago Hell of a comment it, height of non-sense !!

ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Don't u think that Wahab Vs Watson will add up some more flair, don't u?

Malik | 9 years ago it can be but it needn't be the only way to add flair...there are choices and people take whats best in their interest

نائلہ | 9 years ago | Reply If ur referring to the Twitter account then yes :)

Dheeraj Aggarwal | 9 years ago | Reply I only hope that you are a good engineer....

Ansari | 9 years ago Haha, that was some really good sarcasm, appreciated :)

Nathan Sully | 9 years ago | Reply Yes, Muslim countries pious so that they always top google search for x-words.

Ansari | 9 years ago Well, that was yellow journalism and nothing else. That was published on ET without any fact base behind that, and in a manner of a week, it was thrashed away.

Nathan Sully | 9 years ago | Reply Who needs Pakistan?? We are better off without you guys!

someone | 9 years ago | Reply IPL has done great all these years without Pakistani player's participation. Why do you think 2015 would be different?

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply its just a three match odi series with all new look team. what about Indian performance in pre-world cup series? u definitely look at a bigger picture.

JayMankind | 9 years ago | Reply If this is a tongue in cheek article then it is really good.

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Yes, try Pak vs BD in T20 and you will see what I mean.

bruce lee | 9 years ago | Reply The Indians have no shame in showing white girls dancing half naked this is why no body watches ipl in Muslim country's

Malik | 9 years ago Look around the web and in petrol sheikh countries as to who runs around with hundreds of bikini girls in phantoms and mulsannes...and how about your pious muslim brother gaddafi's virgin bodyguards and bilawal's pious relationship with Hina..Muslim country are so pious they never lift veils of their women...Dubai has a multi national brothel and it is well they import foreign girls for fantasy in all muslim countries...

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Yes, I have seen them but that's their view point and I don't agree.

James | 9 years ago May be you won't agree, but majority of the Pakistanis does...

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply You don't need consistent performance in T20, that's the point.

Malik | 9 years ago I feel sad at the kind of criticism you have got personally but hope you get the broad perspective about indian sentiments as against what is preached fictitiously in pakistani media..

Rishabh Jain | 9 years ago I think that you are misreading the IPL. It is too fast paced, but it has its own filteration system. Unlike the Pakistani team.

Gp65 | 9 years ago The IPL team owners who pay big bucks want consistent performance. If you understood that IPL is an Indian business and not designed for entertainment of Pakistani IPL viewers, you would realize how flawed your argument is. You would also not call someone a troll for pointing my out that Afridi (whom you may love to watch) has alienated himself from a vast majority of people whom advertisers (who finally pay for IPL) are trying to reach. Finally IPL is a very successful business and does not need Pakistani players to succeed.

Ansari | 9 years ago | Reply Well, I don't get it. You didn't even put a counter argument to any of the 4 points mentioned in the blog. I will appreciate rational approach rather than trolling.

Abdul | 9 years ago Do you think you have a point, let alone four in your blog ? You want to be a part of IPL and you put forward four reasons (what you think are reasons ). We do not want your players <--- This is our reason.

Rishabh Jain | 9 years ago What he means is that Pakistani players should stop making political statements against India, if they want to play the IPL. They have to act like they are on the international stage.

Rex Major | 9 years ago You have every right to appreciate what you choose as you have the right to write what you choose. The fact is that IPL is successful on its merit and does not need Pakistani players to succeed. The reverse may be true - Pakistani players perhaps need the IPL to be financially successful. The points in your blog are insofar irrelevant that the Indians will not be very keen to be called names a second time.

Gp65 | 9 years ago | Reply "Much like this year, Pakistani players have not been a part of the IPL for the last many seasons and despite initial concerns, it seems that out of its inactivity or weakness, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided not to poke this matter and leave all issues concerning the IPL to the Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI)." ICC has no locus standii in IPL just as it has no locus standii in England county cricket since both these are domestic cricket tournaments not international tournaments though international players play in both. So the fact that they do nit interfere is nit because they are weak but because they cannot. "However, as a cricket fan (read: not Pakistani cricket fan), I strongly believe that the exclusion of Pakistani players is hurting the IPL." Your entire argument is based on the idea that since Pakistan has some talented T20 players, their absence hurts IPL. I do agree Pakistan has some good players but your logic is flawed. IPL is an entertainment business in case you did not realize with businessmen investing millions of their own money to buy players and advertisers paying millions to broadcast it. Please note that IPL is extremely successful financially and is growing from strength to strength. The team owners are business people and have no reason to bet big money on players who may not be able to show up if there is some issue such as 26/11 (November 2008) or soldier beheading (Jan 2013) or ambush and killing of 5 Indian soldiers (September 2013).

rationalist | 9 years ago | Reply Pakistani players have been losing out mega dollar earnings from the IPL. One can't really blame the Indians for preventing Pakistanis making money while their "non-state" actors have been carrying out dozens of terror attacks killing thousands of Indians. This ban is a sort of economic sanction against Pakistan

Anjaan | 9 years ago | Reply Dear Abdullah Ansari, Cricket can not be seen in isolation from the relations between two countries ... specially not after a serious incident like the Mumbai massacre ... !! Criicket and bad blood can not go hand in hand ... !!

Minerva | 9 years ago | Reply By writing such whiny articles you are further boosting Indian ego. Truthfully, IPL does not "need" Pakistani players. Pakistani fans "want" to see their players in the IPL.

Abdul | 9 years ago IPL is doing very well without Pakistani fans till now. Thank you.

ali | 9 years ago | Reply WALOB.. pakistsn cricketers are no where near in terms of fitness, skill and talent. And what is this crap about fast bowling talent,?? Which of there fast bowlers have performed consistently in last 4years?

views & reviews | 9 years ago | Reply IPL does not need PAKISTANI player for succeed . IPL is the most-watched Twenty20 league in the world if you worried about succed of IPL 2015 then for your kind knowledge numbers released by TAM say that the first five matches of the ongoing IPL edition were sampled by 105 million unique viewers, which means a 9 percent increase compared to IPL 7 (2014). As for TV ratings, the jump is a whopping 42 percent — up to 4.5 from 3.1. Overall, 39 per cent of the All India Universe tuned in to watch IPL 8 matches.

Adrak | 9 years ago | Reply Ansari, all things from India have to be part of a full package. You cannot pick and choose what you like. Pakistan in general 'hates' everything about India. They hate to be associated with anything remotely connected to India. Some people say Pakistan is the anti-India. However, when it comes to a few select things a lot of Pakistanis want to participate and then whine about the no entry barriers. They want to play sports with us , especially cricket and Hockey. You want to get into Bollywood even though outwardly you 'hate' what Bollywood stands for. India would love to have Pakistan participate in all of these things. However, for us money/business growth and 'peace' is of high priority. In the last 2-30 years, Pakistan has stabbed and bled India repeatedly. For Pakistan, incidents like terrorist support of Kashmir militants may be a small thing, for us it is huge - we have lost a lot of soldiers and citizens to that. Who can forget Kargil? Would any other country not have gone for a full scale war with you in that situation? What about the Mumbai massacre? Even now it is denied by Pakistan! This has created a lot of ill-will. It will not go away easily. Today in India, Pakistan is treated as a nuisance. If we involve Pakistani players, certain hard line elements in the Indian society may create problems for the IPL teams. Thus they want to avoid the hot-potato issue. It is not worth the risk. The risk reward ratio is poor, If there were players like Javed Miadad or Imran Kan, maybe the teams would have thought differently - public demand for such players would have overwhelmed the risk. The current crop of Pakistani players are not looked upon with that great esteem from Indian public. Afridi is not really popular here. And then Pakistani players have a habit of calling us names - 'small hearted ' Indians. Even your Hockey players created a 'tamsha' - that won no hearts in India. IPL teams are private. They need to earn money - big money is involved. In today's market, talent is available everywhere. If Pakistan is not available, it will come over to India from elsewhere. If the violence stops, I am sure the Indian marketplace would like to take a look at all the talent in all the fields that Pakistan has to offer.

Divyo singh | 9 years ago | Reply You want ur players to play in ipl ...ur musicians wants to sing in Bollywood..same with ur actors..you don't think Pakistan is lagging behind..write a blog on it..

critic | 9 years ago | Reply the reason why Pakistan team has fallen behind, that players playing in ipl with great players like AB, Maxwell, Kohli have improved their game..and their shot making and improvisation has increased massively, while team pak is lacking behind now..

AJ | 9 years ago | Reply Australia developed Big Bash and is World Champion. Rather than trying to beg India for IPL Pakistan should try to develop its own premier league. For that happen the policy of using terror as a state policy has to stop. You cannot hope that others will bail you out always whether be it economy or be it sports.

Alann | 9 years ago | Reply Should the big heart Pakistani players be allowed to play in the lands of the small-hearted Indians? I think not. No one in the Indian team nor the Indian masses watching the Indian Premier League have a heart as big as that of Shahid Afridi. I myself don't really like this business-sport event, but I believe its in the best interest of Pakistanis (and everyone else concerned) if they don't participate in IPL.

Abdul | 9 years ago Problem is if all the big hearted Pakistani players come to India there will not be enough space i the stadium for others. So it is better that Pakistani players stay in their big hearted country and let us small hearted people trudge along.

Ansari | 9 years ago Excuse me, which sporting event is not a business these days? Players are professionals as they play to earn. So keep your emotional touch aside.

Critical | 9 years ago | Reply There is a huge misconception among Pakistanis that Indian govt banned Pakistanis from IPL...But the truth is that after 26/11,India refused to send their team for the Pakistan tour and in turn PCB refused to send Pakistani players for the second IPL..This seriously affected the balance of franchises like RR and DD who were dependent on the bowling of Sohail Tanvir and Asif.. IPL teams are owned by business owners and they look for the players who can play when asked as they have a salary cap..They cannot have players whose cricket board may not release them... Having said that,ur blog looks unabashedly immature..IPL has been successful for 7 years without the involvement of Pakistani players..We have Trent Boult,Steyn,Starc,Mcclengan,Morkel to supplement the Pakistani pace attack...and we have hitters like Baz,AB,Maxwell,Miller,Gayle,Pollard who are way more consistent than Afridi... IPL cannot easily succeed without pakistani players,its actually the Pakistani players who need a cash rich league like IPL to earn some extra money..We dont need players like Tanvir who were welcomed by local crowd and then talk bad about us when he went back to your country... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFiWmKYisw

Rex Major | 9 years ago | Reply Aw come on! Do you really think when Sohail Tanveer talks of Hinuon ki Zahaniyat and Afridi thinks that the Indians ka dil chota hota hai, Indians should be welcoming these guys? Akram, Akhtar, Raja et al. are doing well for themselves - as are many Pakistani actors in the Hindi Film scene. One does not have to be friends with everyone. I think IPL is doing rather well without Pakistani players, and will and should continue to do so.

Singhj | 9 years ago | Reply Let them be successful in BD first.

Indian Guy | 9 years ago | Reply I would agree that IPL would be much more interesting with Players from Pakistan playing in it. In fact it would also be great if a couple of players from Afghanistan and Ireland can play. They would bring in a lot of passion.

James | 9 years ago | Reply Why you need to have Paki players in IPL in first place. Haven't you seen the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Amir Sohail and Basit Ali coming on national television and saying that South Africa and West Indies lost to India in World Cup because of "IPL factor." I feel it is good not have Pakistani players in IPL, otherwise these people would have used the same language to address the loss of Pakistan against India as they are using it for SA and West Indies......

hp kumar | 9 years ago | Reply why should we allow you in IPL?.what we r going to get in the bargain.?You have trade relation with all nation except india.I see , your designers r seeking larger market in India via digital media...I say govt should choke down any attempt to explore larger Indian market.

someone | 9 years ago | Reply I think its other way around. PCB and Pakistani players need IPL to succeed. Not playing in IPL has already damaged their prospectus of winning even against a country like Bangladesh.

Amir - India | 9 years ago | Reply But the current performance of pak team in Bangladesh had minimized urs articles impact,and all good points u say in the article seem over exaggerated.

Anon | 9 years ago | Reply Why not encouraging China to play cricket and then organize an IPL style event and getting into that.....

AW | 9 years ago LOL!!! thats called jealousy

NA | 9 years ago | Reply Australian tour perfect example. BCCI tried to act smart and using its BIG 3 powers planned a tour right before the world cup but what did India do. Could not win a single game either in the practice matches, neither in the test matches and neither in the one day where they got hammered by both Australia and England! And to add how crooked BCCI is. It only takes 2 days to clear a bowling action. Ajmal after his final test was cleared after 2 days whereas Hafeez gave his test in Chennai (A MONEY MAKING INDIAN CENTER) and its been 12 days now. They are waiting for the Bangladesh and Pakistan series to finish and then he will be passed fit. Bunch of of hypocrites!Ansari is a Pakistani but his opinion doesn't mean he cannot express! We come from a democratic country and everyone is allowed to share their opinion!

Abdul | 9 years ago Exactly. We do not want the great cricketers from the land of the pure to be sullied by us Hindu Banias and our crooked IPL, what with the half naked dancing girls and now a big no to 'Dawah and Namaz on the field' too. Better they stay put and become more pious and pure. btw why don't you establish testing center in your country ? You can make money and also get your players passed without any silly hypocritical tests. Two birds with one stone.

Rex Major | 9 years ago "We come from a democratic country and everyone is allowed to share their opinion!" Sure - but IPL still does not need the Pakistani players to be successful and you guys surely would not want your big hearted clean lads to be spoilt by the IPL - remember wahaan par nangi ladkiyaan nachti hain! Aah,but for the money ...

vasan | 9 years ago | Reply IPL does not need Pakistani players. Take it or leave it. It is rubbish to say that IPL needs pakistani players to succeed as if it has not succeeded already.

Gaurav | 9 years ago | Reply You said you are not a Paki cricket fan may I know your nationality please as to why you are getting perturbed by the absence of Paki players

نائلہ | 9 years ago Why would anyone be perturbed by the absence of Pakistani players? They literally carry the excitement package on their backs that's why. #youknowittoo

Ansari | 9 years ago Well, currently my favorite batsmen are Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla and AB Deviliers whereas Dayle Steyn leads the list among bowlers. Best spinner is R. Ashwin and yes, my nationality is Pakistan. Hope you get the point.

Khalid | 9 years ago | Reply While I disagree with your statement that the IPL needs Pakistani players to succeed since it is a success already I agree that it will be greatly enhanced by the presence of some of our players

Ansari | 9 years ago That was the point akhi, :)

Talking Point | 9 years ago | Reply Given how these Pak quickies are performing in Bangladesh and the way shown to the seniors like Afridi , India's IPL would be better off without these worthies . After all IPL is to promote cricket and give a platform for young Indian players and not to set off a storm and controversy with the Pak involvement .

Anjum Sarwar | 9 years ago Lolzzz now see how these indian quickies are performing in bangladesh... and all the way shown to the seniors like dhoni. RG sharma. Kohli.. what a great game is going on with indian...

نائلہ | 9 years ago What treatment of afridi are you referring to exactly?

NA | 9 years ago Pakistan currently at the moment is in hard water but there mere fact is T20 as a proper cricket tournament was first time played in Pakistan. Initial idea was from Martin Crowe but Pakistan Cricket Board was the first one, NOT BCCI,NOT ACB,NOT ECB The BIG 3. Pakistan made it to the first T20 final and the next T20 they won and consistently performed extremely well. India claims that IPL is developing. If you guys were developing so much then how come you did not win the world cup. India is king in their backyard, the moment they enter into foreign territory, nothing but a bunch of school boys! I disagree with people who say Pakistanis should be playing IPL, IPL is just an Indian LEAGUE, it is not the world cup. For me its not a big deal if Pakistan is not a part of it. If you ask all the owners of the IPL team including Shahrukh Khan they would love to have the Pakistani players but it is BCCI that if afraid and is keeping them away because the likes of Wasim Akram Advisor and Bowling Coach of Kolkata who have developed an ordinary side to 2 times IPL champions. Imagine if a retired player who is off the field has so much influence what would the current ones on the field would do!

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