Pak players should boycott IPL but must play in WCs: Imran
Lahore | Monday, Feb 1 2010 IST
 

Upset over the snubbing of the national players by the franchises during the IPL auction in Mumbai, former skipper Imran Khan lambasted the Twenty20 league, saying Pakistani cricketers ''shouldn't participate in it'', but added that they must play in World Cups.

Imran also said the Pakistani players were ''deliberately'' insulted by the IPL.

''They (IPL) deliberately insulted our players at the IPL auction, there was no merit in ignoring our players,'' Imran told mediapersons.

''If the IPL franchises had any concerns about security and other issues about signing on our players they should have been clear about this and not invited them to the auction in the first place.

''But to include them in the auction and then to snub them was appalling and our cricket board and government should lodge a strong protest with the Indian government over this,'' he added.

All the 11 Pakistani players in the auction list found no takers at the glitzy IPL3 auction.

As a sign of protest against the snub to the cricketers, the speaker of the lower house had also stopped a parliamentary delegation from traveling to India. Whereas, in the latest move, the PCB has revoked its no objection certificates to players to participate in the IPL. This means that no Pakistani player will be able to play in IPL this year even if any franchise seeks their inclusion at a later stage.

The legendary pacer, however, didn't agree with the demands to boycott the hockey and cricket World Cups stating this would damage sports in the country. ''Our players should not play in the IPL but we must play in the World Cups as they are global events and if we don't play in them it will harm our hockey and cricket teams,'' he said.

India is due to host the hockey World Cup from February 28 in New Delhi and is also one of the joint hosts of the cricket World Cup in early 2011 along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

-- (UNI) -- 01SPD26.xml

 

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