- Friday, April 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, who is currently fighting an intense political and legal battle at home, has taken out time to speak on the absence of cricketers from his country in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.
The 70-year-old former cricketer, who gave Pakistan their only World Cup in 50-over format in 1992, accused the Indian cricket board of showing arrogance by not including Pakistani cricketers in the IPL and told the players that they should not worry about the neighbouring country not allowing them to play in the cash-rich T20 tournament. He also slammed the Indian cricket board for not including Pakistani players in the IPL and said it showed arrogance.
Speaking to Times Radio, Khan, who was ousted as Pakistan’s prime minister in April last year, said, “I find it strange that the Indian cricket board would take it out on the Pakistan cricket players (by not allowing them to feature in the IPL) and it just reeks of arrogance.”
“If India doesn’t allow Pakistan players (to play IPL) so be it. Pakistan should not worry about it,” the veteran added.
It is not that Pakistani players were never part of the Indian tournament. They had played in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 but after political relations between the two countries deteriorated in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks later that year, India eventually barred Pakistani players from participating in the tournament.
Khan also said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has become ‘arrogant’ because of its ability to generate a “lot of funds”.
“It is unfortunate, the relationship between Pakistan and India. There is a lot of arrogance in the way India now behaves in the cricketing world as a superpower. Because of their ability to generate a lot of funds, lot more than any other country, I think they almost dictate now as a sort of the arrogance of a superpower of who they should play and who they shouldn’t,” Khan was quoted as saying.
The 2023 edition of the IPL kicked off on Friday (31) with a match between defending champions Gujarat Titans and four-time winners Chennai Super Kings and the match ended in favour of the former who won by five wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat.
