IPL 2010

I think the whole issue of no bidding for any pakistani player for IPL 2010 by any of the franchisees is purely a business decision. There is no reason for people to think that Indian government has any kind of role to play behind this. The simple logical thinking that any sensible businessman who has a monetary interest in any of the participating teams would be somewhat like this. With the ongoing political tensions between India and Pakistan post 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai, there is a fair amount of suspicion that Pakistani players may have a hard time getting visas. Forget the deadline of Dec 7 2009 missed by the PCB to obtain visas for their players who had existing contracts. Even if the risk of buying a pakistani player and not seeing him play due to visa issues was to be discounted, public show of resentment within certain sections of Indian society cannot be ruled out. To add further to this point, political parties like Shiv Sena can make full use of this opportunity to create disturbances in normal routine of the city of Mumbai which is one of the venues for IPL matches. Why would any of the IPL team owners want to take such a risk when huge amount of money is at stake? Why would IPL organizers let this be a threat against peaceful show of entertainment? People want quality matches and would definitely like to see players like Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Akhtar in the event, after all Pakistani team won the T20 2009 world cup.

But one must not forget that it was the Pakistani government which stopped their team to play in the second edition of IPL 2009. Even though it was held in South Africa because of lack of supply of security as it coincided with general elections in India. And now, Pakistani Foreign Office states its interpretation of this episode in the media as "India's unwillingness to resolve bilateral issues through dialogue and peaceful means". Give us a break! Politicizing this issue is not going to take Pakistani government anywhere but make relationship with India even worse. IPL means entertainment for people and business for team owners and shareholders. In no way can personal sentiments or grudges come in the way of this grand sports event.