Pakistanis banned from BPL?
In what could be termed an inevitable backlash, newspapers in Pakistan carried a report stating that Pakistani players will not be allowed to participate in the next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 if Bangladesh do not send its cricket team to tour Pakistan as previously planned.
'The News', a Pakistan daily carried the report titled 'No Pakistani players for BPL', and cited “well-placed sources” as saying that Pakistani players will be barred from participation in case the Bangladesh national team does not make it to Pakistan for an ODI series.
“Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will block its players' participation in the second edition of BPL in case the Bangladeshis decide against sending there team to Pakistan,” 'The News' quoted the unnamed source as saying.
Bangladesh's proposed tour of Pakistan would have been the first international cricket tour to the country since the March 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka team in which six Pakistani policemen and a van driver were killed and five of the visiting players were wounded.
Earlier this month, the PCB had invited a security delegation of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) led by their president Mostafa Kamal to Pakistan to inspect security arrangements for the tour. Although Kamal seemed satisfied with the arrangements at the time but never fully committed to the tour. It now seems very unlikely that the tour will go ahead as planned.
The report went on to add: “'PCB believes that it has done everything possible for the smooth hosting of a home series against Bangladesh which is why it won't take any decision against the visit lightly,' said the source.
“'A negative call on the issue by Bangladesh is bound to strain cricketing relations between the two countries and the biggest loser could be the BPL,' he added.”
There has been no official word from either camp regarding these actions. The BCB is yet to confirm whether they are going to send a national team to Pakistan, while apart from the unnamed source, no PCB official has yet officially indicated that Pakistan will bar their players from participating in the BPL, where over twenty Pakistani players took part in the first edition.
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