 In an interesting development, the four Pakistani players who were suspended from
participating in this year's IPL have planned to travel to South Africa
to meet the tournament commissioner, Lalit Modi. The statement came from
last year's purple cap holder Sohail Tanvir that the players would also be accompanied
by a representative of the company that they've engaged to deal with the situation.
Post the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, the PCB had banned its players
from travelling to India to participate in the IPL. However, when the tournament
was shifted out of India, the players were hopeful of making a return to the
scene. But the IPL officials turned down their request saying that since the
squads for most teams had already been finalized, it would have difficult to
accommodate them at the last minute. As many as 6 Pakistani players' contracts
were terminated even before the auction that took place in February. But there
were 4 others; Sohair Tanvir, Kamran Akmal (Both from Rajasthan Royals),
Misbah-Ul-Haq (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Umar Gul (Kolkata Knight Riders)
whose contracts were only suspended and not terminated, thereby leaving the
door open for them to return at a later stage.
Tanvir said that a number of issues would need to be discussed with Modi including
the possibility of the respective franchises compensating the players for their
losses in earnings. The left armer rued over the fact that he wasn't competing
with the best in the world. He added that the IPL governing council should have
reviewed their status once their government had issued an NOC after the tournament
was shifted outside of India. He was also concerned about the lack of adequate
preparation that Pakistan would now suffer from heading into the T20 World Cup
in England.
In a separate incident but related to cricket in Pakistan, the PCB issued a
legal notice to the ICC terming their decision to strip them from hosting
the 2011 World Cup as 'legally flawed'. Ijaz Butt, the Chairman of their Board
stated that the manner in which his country was denied the right to host the
showpiece event was 'legally flawed, unfair and discriminatory' and that Pakistan
intended to fight for its right to as a co-host. The notice was sent to the
ICC Chairman, David Morgan and under the ICC's constitution the Pakistan
Board was seen as requesting the matter to be resolved via the disputes resolution
committee.
|
