Skip to main content

Pakistani Cricketers Anguish Over Kashmir, Or Their Inability To Play In IPL?


Pakistan banned in IPL

From the colonial times, cricket and politics remained an inseparable thing in the Indian subcontinent. Ashutosh Gowariker’s "Lagaan" gives a hint of when did they began mixing together. But the whole episode of Bhuvan’s struggle of not paying the lagaan(taxes) to the British government —at times of monsoon crisis (ghanan ghanan)— becomes small and insignificant, if politics over cricket between India and Pakistan is taken into account in the past few years.

Just a few days before the commencement of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Pakistani cricketers began to shower their ‘alleged’ love and sympathy for Kashmir, now when they know couldn't take part in IPL, they are showcasing their outrage on Twitter —not against IPL— but against Indian army and India as a state.

After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, perpetrated by Pakistan based terror organization 'Lashkar-e-Taiba', the Indian government has put a ban on Pakistani players from participating in IPL, and also severed cricketing ties with Pakistan. The only tournament in which India and Pakistan play cricket is World Cup and Champions Trophy. There were discussions in India even to boycott Champions Trophy. But the conclusion was “why should cricketers and cricket-lovers in India suffer from the actions of the guerrilla army of a rogue state?”

During its inaugural 2008 season, there were 11 Pakistani players inducted in the IPL. However, after buying Pakistani players for a hefty price, the franchise owners had to bear a loss with the ban on Pakistani players post 26/11. Therefore, in 2010, despite being included in the IPL auction, no Pakistani players were selected to play in the league as none of them showed their interest towards them, the prime reason was their insecurity. And after all, there is very little to lose for IPL in barring Pakistani players with the presence of enough world class players who make it exciting.

It began with Afridi’s tweet in which he raised his concern about the situation in the ‘Indian Occupied” Kashmir. Using the word innocent for the Kashmiri militants, who were killed in the valley last week on Sunday in a security operation by Indian armed forces. He also questioned where UN and other international agencies have been and why are they silent, which itself is ironical when UN which reportedly has listed 139 Pakistanis in its list of Terrorist, Afridi is appealing to the UN. It’s like a thief reporting a complaint to the cops.
The response to this tweet was enormous. It was possibly the first time when an active Pakistani cricketer officially chose to be involved in the Indo-Pak politics supporting the terrorist groups working in Kashmir brazenly. Afridi, in spite of hailing from Pakistan, which is also synonymously known as a terrorist state, the all-rounder cricketer, has been able to earn respect in the international cricket. His engagement in the never-ending, sometimes petty, Indo-Pak politics signifies his will to begin a political career in Pakistan, now that he will have to retire from Cricket.

IPL is a fast money generating event for cricketers all over the world. Afridi was sold for an approximate worth of 4.5 Crore of Rupees ($ 675,000) in the first season of IPL. So, his grudge is real & justified.

Among cricketers, Gautam Gambhir’s response was the first and impactful. According to him, what started on Twitter should also end on Twitter.
There were many other cricketers who responded to Afridi’s tweet.

Captain Virat Kohli, unlike his performance on the ground, chose to be politically correct. His response was ambiguous. "As an Indian, you want to express what is best for your nation and my interests are always for the benefit of our nation. If anything opposes it, I would never support it for sure. But having said that, it's a very personal choice for someone to comment on certain issues. Unless I have total knowledge of the issues and the intricacies of it I don't engage in it but definitely, your priority stays with your nation", he said to ANI.


But among all, World Cup-fame former captain Kapil Dev’s response was the most appropriate when he wondered why Afridi was even receiving importance. "Who is he? Why are we giving importance to him? We should not be giving importance to certain people.” I would rate his response a 5-star.

Shoaib Akhtar, who with India’s help, makes good money by pursuing cricket commentary, looks confused. First, he tweeted about the trending Salman Khan case but deleted that later. In his first tweet, he hilariously compared an Indian state of Kashmir with Salman Khan and some of the most troubled regions of the world like Yemen, Afghanistan, and Syria.“Kashmir, wants it to be 'free' like with some of Later, he moderated his stand in his next tweets. The deleted first tweet was only to grab attention.
At last, Pakistani cricketers have only ridiculed themselves. If they want to play IPL or international cricket with India, they should first make their army & ISI people realize that they would not be getting anything with the jihadist militants they create for Kashmir. Doing theatrics on Twitter is no solution and will only serve the purpose of entertaining followers. Also, as long as India plays a role in bringing riches and glory to the Pakistanis —actors, singers, cricketers— they do not feel the need of talking about the so-called uprising in Kashmir. The grumble begins if the perks coming from India is stopped.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making A Difference — Indian Media And Ravish Kumar

Today's Bulletin: Priya Prakash Varrier’s killing wink, Taimur’s daily schedule, 'Rashtramata' Padmavati , Donald Trump tweets, Different types of jihad - love jihad, hate jihad, cow jihad, North Korea’s ‘mental dictator’ Kim Jong Un's preparation for a nuclear war, and last, but not the least —An esteemed panel of 'alleged' experts and politicians engaging in an ‘alleged’ debate. If you are a consumer of Indian media, particularly the news channels, you might have got the idea of what my opening words are and where I’m trying to point it. If you think, all mediawallahs  (media personnel) are same, or that these are really important topics worthy of your time, you need to think again. Ravish during his hate-speech There is a 'proven' left-wing terrorist, and an atheist, perhaps, NDTV journo named Ravish Kumar who is different. The non-Hindi Indian states might not have heard his name. He is not interested in covering ‘big stories’, no loud ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sensational Case of Salman Khan and Black Bucks, After Two Decades Justice Served?

Before beginning, I would like to reiterate that Salman Khan is just a cinema star, nothing more nothing less. So leave celebrity worship aside and try to be pragmatic. Salman Khan’s past was nowhere similar to his modern-day superhit films. Infamously known as the bad boy of Bollywood, he has been directly involved in criminal cases of pretty grave nature. Hit-and-run case , in which he allegedly under the influence of alcohol ran his car on the footpath in which one person was killed and four got injured. In that case, first his driver was made a scapegoat but a little while later, things became murky the result of which Khan was acquitted by the Mumbai HC in 2015. His relationship with Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan) fetched an excellent TRPs to our media, first with and rumours about their relationship, then with confirmed rumours, and even after the break-up, when former miss world accused him of harassing her. Black Bucks/Chinkara poaching case , about which this post is all abo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bihar B Ed Admission Crisis

This year in 2018, a first-ever centralized test was conducted by the Nalanda Open University (NOU), on behalf of the Bihar government for admission into 322 B.Ed colleges across the state. Prescribed by the previous governor of Bihar, Satyapal Malik, as it was publicized in the media, the combined entrance test (CET) was done in order to tame the B.Ed colleges which have been reduced to mere money-making business; some of them being run by powerful people in politics too. They charge more than the prescribed money for admission and yet, they churn out incompetent teachers. The Crisis After conducting the test and announcing result of the same, NOU held counselling of the CET candidates to allot appropriate colleges to them according to their marks. In the result, around 62000 candidates were declared as qualified, and 36440 among them were invited for the counselling held in Gyan Bhawan, Patna. The counselling was merely for document verification and submission. The c...
1 comment
Read more

SSC, The Scam Continues

SSC or Staff Selection Commission , an organization under Government of India, conducts examinations to recruit personnel for different posts in the various ministries and departments of the Government of India and in subordinate offices. Every year, lakhs of government job seekers apply for SSC exams in hope of a stable government job they can bank upon their future. This year too, the examination was conducted as per schedule in February. The difference, this time, is the allegation of mass cheating being executed by some corrupt coaching institutes which somehow managed to obtain the question paper of SSC tier II exams and sold them to the rich and powerful people. The candidates who appeared for exams this year are saying that it is only possible in collusion with the SSC higher authorities. There is a facebook page SSCtube from where we got a clear hint of the leak. They posted screenshots of questions before the exams which was shared widely. As per the candidates, the s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sanjay Dutt Hero Or Villain? A Review Of Sanju Baba’s Journey As Both

The Sanjay Dutt biopic “Sanju” was released on 29th of June made by one of the best filmmakers of the B-town, Rajkumar Hirani. It was marketed as an “unbelievably true story”. Indeed Dutt’s journey is unbelievable. However, there have been many unbelievable personalities too such as Dawood or Osama. Sorry for comparing Dutt with Don and Terrorist. The drugs, booze, women, and AK 56 make Sanju a largely negative character in the real world. Not his fault, according to the film. Some people say Sanjay Dutt doesn’t deserve a biopic as there are many “good” people, with their “good” work, that go unnoticed. The argument over whether Dutt deserves a biopic or not is inane. It’s like saying Dhoni’s biopic should have been made after his retirement. The truth is, biopics are made on interesting people, not the good ones, especially if it is of commercial in nature. If that interesting people is a negative character, it gets more publicity. Also, a “fictional” biopic cannot be real. Be i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Marvels Of Board Exams

AFTER AN EXHILARATING HOLI, comes the boring and haunting board exam, the exam for which no amount of preparation gives an impression of sufficiency. Students across the nation get excited as well as depressed. They are ‘excitingly depressed’. Excited to give the final exam of their school life, to enter into a new world, and depressed thinking what society would say if their marks won't be that good. Sharma Ji’s meritorious child is making things worse. While the level of questions asked in the exams has become easy these days, the quality of students being produced is decreasing, WhatsApp, Social Media and expansion of internet are to blame. The internet and smartphones may help students in their higher studies, but it misfires in case of younger kids. It only serves as a distraction, the biggest of modern times. Earlier, when kids go out to play some sports , it was treated as a distraction from studies. But now, it has been understood clearly that it wasn't seeing...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Mesmerizing Winter Morning

WAKING UP on a winter morning takes courage. It is a sort of sacrifice only a few people are able to make, those having a remarkable will-power. Unless you have a strong reason to get something done, making this sacrifice is a herculean task, almost impossible. In winter, there is a joy in oversleeping, in cuddling up under a nice warm and cosy blanket. What most people do is— they wake up, see the time, and get back to sleep again. Even when being awake, it becomes extremely difficult to actually get up and resume our work or study. What happens is that our mind succumbs to the bodily comfort of enjoying a great peaceful sleep underneath a blanket. I, too, belong to this group, the group that is not ready to give up morning sleep easily on any day; and when it comes to giving up the sleep of a winter morning, we just cannot. However, one day, on a fairly cold winter morning, when I supposed to be in the sleep mode, I not only got up early but went for a walk too. Dressed up ...
Post a Comment
Read more