Page 46 - The Indian EYE 041621

SPORTS APRIL 16, 2021 | The Indian Eye 46

tiMe FOr india tO

reOPen BiLateraL cricKet

reLatiOnS with PaKiStan

the case for Pakistani eign talent is hitting the brand
Players in the iPL of the IPL. Only India & En-

hile the IPL is in full gland are producing new talent,
swing in India, the with Australia & New Zealand
WPakistan-South Afri- close behind.
It is time for more talent to
ca series is catching attention of flow in—Pakistani talent that is.
many. On the flip side, BCCI’s reluc-
In the 3rd T20I, Pakistan
chased 204 runs with 9 wickets tance to let Indians play abroad
& 2 overs to spare, courtesy a should also be reconsidered, but
197-run partnership from Mo- that is a story for another day.
hammad Rizwan-Babar Azam, BroKen cricKet dreaMs Looking Back to iPL 2008
who scored 122 (59). Earlier,
news broke that Azam also de- NITESH MATHUR hampions Rajasthan
throned Virat Kohli as the #1 Royals benefitted from
ICC ODI batsman after 1258 www.brokencricketdreams.com Chaving Pakistan talent in
days. their squad with Kamral Akmal,
Add Fakhar Zaman’s bril- Hence, Pakistan’s struggle ting double centuries, & Bum- Younis, & Sohail Tanvir, the
liant 193 in the ODI series, over the last decade & lack of rah-Shaheen bowling together maiden purple cap winner in
Hafeez’s second coming, & the competitiveness in recent ICC at the death.” IPL’s first edition. KKR enjoyed
fast-bowling line up, the ques- tournaments has been disheart- With South African, Sri the pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar
tion should be asked—Is the ening. The new generation is Lankan, & West Indian con- & Umar Gul. They also had Sal-
IPL really the best T20 tourna- making this a battle of equals tingent in the prime of their ca- man Butt & the ageless Hafeez
ment without Pakistani players? again. reers from 2007-2017, absence in their ranks.
of Pakistani players in the IPL Few others participated as
the Fall of Pakistan cricket the new Generation of made sense. well—Shahid Afridi (Deccan

akistan dominated the Pakistan cricket rises It no longer does. Chargers), Malik & Moham-
Indo-Pak cricket rivalry ohammad Rizwan south africa & sri Lanka’s mad Asif (Delhi Daredevils),
& Misbah-ul-Haq (Royal Chal-
Pin the 1990s, while India is currently the best eternal transition Period lengers Bangalore).
For India’s tenacious Rahul Bumrahs of the world. The leg K
crushed it in the 2010s. Only in MT20I batsman in the
the 2000s, was there a battle of world. Shaheen Shah Afridi can umar Sangakkara & iPL 2020 was ideal But
equals. compete with the Rabadas & Mahela Jayawardene there is still time
once captained IPL
Dravid, Pakistan had Younis spin of Shadab Khan & Usman teams. They are now the only PL 2020 was the best op-
Khan. Similarly, the elegance Qadir along Afridi-Naseem Sri Lankan representation in portunity for allowing Pa-
of Yousuf & Tendulkar, sta- Shah-Hasan Ali-Haris Rauf can IPL 2021 (as coaches) as no SL Ikistani players. The world
bility of Inzamam & Laxman/ send shivers down the opposi- players were picked in the auc- was struggling with a pandemic,
Ganguly, & exuberance of Afri- tion camp. tion. Gone is the era of Malin- and the tournament was tak-
di & Sehwag were on par with Babar Azam is the best play- ga-Murali-Dilshan. ing place at Pakistan’s adopted
each other. The destructiveness er in the world. Period. With an eternal transition home, the UAE.
of Akhtar-Asif-Sami matched IPL teams can benefit from process in South Africa, only What better time to get Paki-
the abilities of Pathan-Za- Haider Ali & Faheem Ashraf’s Rabada-Nortje have risen to stan players in? Unfortunately,
heer-Kumble-Harbhajan. power, experience of Moham- the occasion. Otherwise, AB De that did not happen, but there is
India narrowly won the 2004 mad Hafeez & Shoaib Malik, Villiers & Faf Du Plessis still car- still time.
Test series 2-1 & ODI series 3-2 and the pace of discarded Mo- ry the South Africa baton while Babar is 26, Rizwan 28, &
held in Pakistan. Pakistan re- hammad Amir & Mohammad World Cup winning generation Amir 29. It would be great to watch
turned the favor next year with Hasnain. represent Caribbean pride (Gay- Amir versus Kohli once again,
1-1 in Tests & 4-2 ODI victory “Imagine Babar-Kohli open- le, Narine, Pollard, Russell). and there is enough love across
in India. ing for RCB, Fakhar-Rohit hit- This lack of variety in for- the border to make it happen.

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