The imbroglio concerning the Pakistani exclusion continues to rage on. Even as the sports minister from pakistan had urged his Indian counterpart to intervene and take action against the IPL, news has filtered in that Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq had been approached by an IPL franchise for the third edition of the tournament.
The franchise in question is Kolkata night Riders. However, to add to the confusion, the Knight Riders have denied having made any such approach to the Pakistani player.
What is surprising is that the Pakistani cricket board’s chief Ejaz Butt has categorically said that such an approach had indeed been made and he had advised the player that unless and until something was obtained on paper from the franchise, there wasn’t anything that he could do about it. He also said that it was a question of not only one player but also how the others were treated by the IPL.
Razzaq said that a one year contract with the Knight Riders is ready but permission is needed from the IPL authorities to allow him to play in the tournament. Even the captain of the Knight Riders, Sourav Ganguly said, “We have spoken to Razzaq for a very long time, we wanted him in the team but will wait for the IPL rules. The issue of Pakistani players is between the IPL and government. We shall have to wait for the rules”
Contradicting Ganguly, a Knight Riders official said that whatever talk had happened with the all-rounder had been done before the auctions. However, nothing has been spoken about after the auctions. Mashrafe Mortaza’s continuing injury could be the problem that the Knight Riders may face and hence have the replacement in Razzaq ready. It will be interesting to see how the IPL and the Government of India react to this whole news.
To add fuel to the fire, Shahid Afridi continued to flip-flop over his stance on the IPL. He had earlier criticised the IPL for ignoring him and the other Pakistanis, but had chosen to forgive and forget and move on yesterday. After this, when quizzed whether he would play in the IPL, Afridi said that he will not represent any side in the tournament, because the Pakistanis had been insulted! Clearly, Afridi needs to decide on one or the other way path that he desires to take before blurting out in front of the media!
