Finally Whom Does Afridi & co want to blame?

Well no one on earth would have tolerated the insult what the Pakistani cricketers Shahid Afridi and co had to bear on the first day of the auction for the 3rd edition of the Indian Premier League. It is not an unknown fact that none of the Pakistani players were bought and more the less not even bid for on the first day of the auction. And no one would have also supported such a treatment to anyone let alone Pakistani players. But, the other side of the coin is also to be given a closer look at I suppose.

After the Pakistan team made it to the finals of the second T20 world cup, which was their second such feat and a much better one when they won the championship, I remember reading in one of the leading newspapers-The times of India that the Pakistani players should never settle for something less by giving a nod for a throwaway price by the IPL sponsors. But, none of them including the then Pakistani captain Mohammed Yusuf would have thought that Pakistani players will not even have to feaure on the sponsors' hit lists for the auction. May be that the ICL returnees would be kicking themselves after they decided to leave the rebel league hoping of a better prospect in IPL.

Pakistani players namely Naved Ul Hassan Rana, Abdul Razzaq and others ditched ICL to get back to their international team and so to the IPL but, the result is quite in front of us. Things worked out well for New Zealand's Shane Bond but not for Pakistani players. If the BCCI or the IPL considers the ICL as a rebel league, the Pakistani players should have anticipated that the same BCCI considers Pakistan as a rebel country. So, in a way, it has to be Pakistani players who could not anticipate even such things and feature themselves for the auction and then come out cursing.

Likewise, every T20 team would like to have someone like Afridi in their team. But, what is the guarantee that Pakistani players will turn up for their respective franchisees? Moreover, taking into consideration the impression that the Pakistani players have in the minds of the Indian people, is it worth the risk to-be-taken by the sponsors which might see them lose viewers' interest in their teams and products? A little bit of bitter relationship between the two countries might end up in all the Pak players called back from the IPL half way through. Who is going to take the blame for that? And last but not the least, IPL has had a good run in 2009 when there were no Pakistani players featuring and things might not get worse this time as well.