It was a rude surprise to many – including me – that none of the IPL teams could find merit in a single Pakistani player – the reigning T20 World Champions! If not an Afridi or a Razaaq, I would have loved to see the young Mohammed Amir or an Umar Akmal playing in India.
Agreed we are living in difficult times, and you could draw parallel of the current Indo-Pak thaw to that of the 1984 Olympics or the Munich games, where the political and contemporary reasons reign over the sport itself.
But, why cant the sport be the great leveller, as it is proclaimed quite often? If India has been one of the largest victim of terror in recent times, so is Pakistan and it so appears that the devil let out of its leash, is out of control on both the nations. Unless some common sense prevails across the leadership of both the nations, both the countries will continue to pay a high price.
If this nation could lend a helping hand to the late Wasim Akram’s wife and one of the IPL franchise is more than happy to take the same legend’s service as a bowling coach, why can’t a Pakistani play the game as well?
You can justify saying, the IPL is deprived of the Pakistanis, on the same lines as many of the current greats playing the game. But, I think, a Sohail Tanveer – the purple cap winner of the 1st edition of the IPL – not finding any taker, is quite intriguing indeed and reflects the extent to which things have changed over the last two years!
We need to wait and see what Wasim Akram will do.