 More fuel was added to the already raging fire in the non-inclusion of the IPL
players' issue, as different voices came out from different stake-holders of the
franchises. Earlier, there had been claims that there had been no contrived attempts
by the various owners to not choose the Pakistani cricketers.
The owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah rukh Khan, said that
it was sad that the Pakistani cricketers were excluded from the team. He also
went on to add that there was a strong consensus between the franchises not
to include the Pakistani cricketers, and in the end, those who were reluctant
also joined in not to bid for them.
He also gave the example of how the current issue related to the Aussie players
was one of the analogies. He said that choosing the players or no in a tournament
which has such high stakes needed the owners to be sure about the players. He
said that there were owners who were spending 60, 70 or 80 crores for the players,
and if suddenly someone were to call the player a risk, there would be obvious
question-marks of their inclusion.
To add to further confusion, even the head of coaching, Darren Berry
said that he had Umar Akmal as his number one player for the auctions
till about a couple of weeks before the auctions. This meant that in the interim
period things happened behind the scenes to change that. Berry added that while
he did not know what exactly happened, he was surprised with the whole affair.
He said, "I do not have all the information , and possibly never will,
as this was a very delicate issue played out behind the scenes. However, I do
know - due to my coaching role with the Rajasthan Royals - that a few weeks
ago, Umar Akmal was No. 1 priority on the Royals' shopping list."
Earlier, even Shilpa Shetty had said that there was nothing contrived
about the fact that the Pakistanis were ignored in the tournament. She had said,
"We lost out on the best players. We don't owe any explanation anyway."
The best was reserved for the Home Minister of the country, P. Chidambaram,
who went on to chide the organisers for not including the Pakistani cricketers
in the tournament. He also went on reiterate the fact that the Government had
had no say in the decision and that it was the franchise's personal choice.
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