IPL on Move & without Pakistani Players?

The first season of the Indian Premier League was a huge hit among Pakistani cricket fans. The spicy combination of Twenty20 cricket and Bollywood proved irresistible to people of all ages on both sides of the border. The negligible time difference between the two neighbours meant that like in India, the tournament aired in the prime time slot, attracting huge audiences.

It also came in the midst of a very rough time in Pakistani cricket, with top foreign teamsrefusing to visit the country and Pakistani cricketers seeing very little top-level action. The IPL gave Pakistanis a chance to see many of the best international players – including some of its own game-starved players – battle it out in the sub-continental setting. More importantly, it provided a much-need psychological fillip: situation-permitting, perhaps we too could host an international-standard domestic tournament soon.

The decision to move the tournament out of India has thus had an impact of Pakistani cricket fans too. If sports events are being cancelled in India – even the staging of the much-hyped Commonwealth Games in India next year is being questioned – then what hope is there for any sports event taking place over here in the near future? And, like many commentators have pointed out, it seems doubtful that the mirch masala of the first tournament would survive the move from the steamy sub-continent to the chilliness of South Africa in early winter.

However, there seem to be a couple of interesting upshots for Pakistani cricket from these developments. Sambit Bal of Cricinfo points out that the shifting of the IPL abroad ‘might provide a template for, and hasten the process of, Pakistan’s home games being played in England or elsewhere.’ The move also makes it possible that the IPL will feature Pakistani players, who had earlier been ruled out from the tournament after the Pakistani government refused them permission to travel to India. The PCB has already taken up the issue with IPL’s organizers, and Pakistani players, including Shoaib Akhtar, have expressed excitement at the prospect of once again taking part in the lucrative tournament.

As is the case in any major socio-political developments and decisions in the Indo-Pak region, the shifting of the IPL – a decision big enough to raise concerns in the Indian parliament – is bound to have a ripple effect on Pakistan. It could mean that Pakistani cricketers are welcomed back to their respective league teams or, more likely, any flicker of hope of international sporting events in Pakistan is pushed back by another 10 years.