Published: Feb 22, 2017, 06:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 22, 2017, 06:18 PM (IST)
Monday’s auctions of Indian Premier League (IPL) saw some historic milestones as overseas players were signed for massive amounts and players from Afghanistan were picked for the first time in the tournament. However, the absence of Pakistani players from the entire tournament is an obvious sign of the issues between the internal ties of the two nations. But this does not seem to affect Pakistani cricket legend, Javed Miandad as he believes that their domestic, Pakistan Super League is well enough for them. “There was a time when we really felt bad for not being part of it, but now we have our own league and it’s pretty successful,” he said. IPL Auction 2017: FULL News and Updates from IPL 10 auction
The last time Pakistan cricketers were a part of IPL, was in the inaugural season of 2008. However, in the same year the city of Mumbai shuddered with terror attacks and that ended the alliance between the two. It also resulted with the bilateral series ending between the two countries.
Miandad also commented on the selection of the two Afghan players, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan and suggested them to invest on their own leagues at home. “Whether it is an Afghan player or a cricketer from some other country, IPL deals don’t matter to us,” said Miandad, “If a player is good then he will get bidders at any league.”
Last year, former captain of the Pakistan team, Zaheer Abbas had expressed a desire of initiating talks with Board of Cricket Council of India (BCCI) officials on permitting the players to play for IPL. Shahid Afridi too spoke on the matter and said that IPL would be beneficial for the upcoming Pakistani cricketers.
Miandad hit out at the policies of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the recalling of Mohammad Aamer amongst all the other players in the group. “Only the board is to blame for this mess” he added.
