In London, concerns are rising. There are reports that Pakistani cricketers might be deliberately excluded from the Hundred, the new 100-ball format that is making its debut in England, and this has led to the question: Is franchise cricket maintaining fairness and inclusivity?
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has called on the England and Wales Cricket Board to take action, saying that politics is seeping into sports. The problem is with four of the eight franchises competing in the tournament—Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave, and Sunrisers Leeds—being owned by companies that also have IPL teams. According to BBC Sport and The Telegraph, there is an “unwritten rule” among the Indian-linked franchises that they do not select Pakistani players.
“The ECB must take swift action … they run the competition, and this cannot be allowed to continue,” Vaughan wrote on Twitter. “Cricket has to be the most inclusive sport in the country, and this is not acceptable.”
This could be part of a larger trend of systematically excluding Pakistani cricketers from franchise leagues. For instance, Pakistani players have not been selected by IPL-linked franchises in South Africa’s SA20 or the UAE’s ILT20, even though players from 15 other countries have been drafted. Pakistani players, however, have been selected by the Desert Vipers, an American-owned franchise in the ILT20, eight times in the same period.
The player auction for The Hundred is scheduled to take place on March 11-12 in London, and the Pakistani players who are not contracted to IPL-supported teams may receive little more than lip service from the non-IPL franchises. This leaves little hope for the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Haris Rauf. Although last year’s tournament saw the participation of Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim, changes have occurred in the ownership of franchises since then.
The India-Pakistan rivalry has been a defining factor in cricket diplomacy for years, with very few international matches played between the two countries. Pakistani players have also been banned from the IPL, which is the richest T20 league in the world. Even the recent India-Pakistan match in Colombo, at the T20 World Cup, happened only after Pakistan withdrew their boycott.
BBC commentator Aatif Nawaz has termed this situation “systemic isolation” and has said that there is no cricketing reason for Pakistani players to be denied selection. The ECB is still in control of The Hundred, even though it has sold 49 percent stakes in all franchises to private investors towards the end of last year. The ECB is still under pressure to ensure that the franchises adhere to the principles of fairness, inclusion, and transparency.
With The Hundred approaching, all eyes are on the competition as people are urging the ECB to ensure that the private partners are kept under control and that there is no form of discrimination based on nationality that could erode the spirit of the game.
