 Some things never change and the habit of flip-flopping at the drop of the hat
continues to ail Pakistani cricket. The PCB has cried foul over their exclusion
from the Champions League T20 after the chairman, Ijaz Butt had spoken
against participating in the tournament in a previous interviews, after the Pakistanis
were excluded from the IPL.
However, now, the PCB chairman has said that he had been misquoted!
Butt said that the comments that had been misrepresented were related to the
IPL and the participation of the players in the tournament. He also added that
he had no reason to deprive his players of their livelihood and that he would
not want the players not to play in the tournament.
This has now meant that the Pakistan T20 champions for five years in
a row, Sialkot Stallions will again not feature in the tournament that is said
to be the most lucrative in the history of cricket. Sialkot won the RBS Twenty20
in March 2010, and possesses players like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Asif,
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdur Rehman and Abdul Razzaq in their line-up.
Sialkot were to be a part of the 2008 edition of the Champions League but the
tournament was cancelled due to the terror attacks in Mumbai and then were not
invited in 2009 due to the political tension between the two countries.
Butt cried out, "Nobody has invited us this year and that is disappointing,"
According to a popular website, the Pakistanis were not sent an invitation
after the PCB chief had formally conveyed that they will not be coming over
for the tournament after the IPL fiasco. He said, "Mr Butt had formally
announced and communicated in February that no Pakistani team would be permitted
to compete in the 2010 CLT20, and as Mr Butt is the Chairman of the PCB, the
Governing Council of CLT20 could not and did not consider any invitations to
Pakistani teams,"
Even South Africa cricket chief, Gerald Majola said that it was too
late to have the side come over.
Butt said that he will look to talk to the ICC about the issue and complain
to them about the fact that the country has been repeatedly getting isolated
by the BCCI.
Shahid Afridi had played for South Australia in the KFC Big Bash and if they
select him in the squad for the Champions League, will become the only
cricketer from Pakistan to play in the tournament.
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