The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had contemplated making foreign players choose between Indian Premier League (IPL) and Pakistan Super League (PSL), according to a report in The Indian Express. However, after a lot of discussions, the idea was dropped.
According to the report, the members of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) — Vinod Rai, Diana Edulji, Lieutenant General Ravi Thodge — and the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri thought it would be inappropriate to ask foreign players to choose as it was the IPL franchises, and not the Indian cricket board, that had bought the cricketers.
Several foreign stars, who are a prominent part of the IPL, also play in PSL. The names include Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, AB de Villiers among others.
India’s already-fractured cricketing ties with Pakistan worsened after the recent terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Former and current Indian cricketers have also condemned the Pulwama terror attack. Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has even called for India to skip their match against Pakistan in the 2019 World Cup.
“There is no chance of a bilateral series with Pakistan after this incident. I agree that after this attack, India should not only stop playing cricket, hockey or football with Pakistan but cut all ties with them,” said former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.
Also, several State cricket associations have removed photographs of former Pakistani cricketers as a mark of protest against the terror attack.
