Stani Army

“…That doesn’t mean the tournament is perfect. The marketing is incorrectly playing on the name of the tournament. “Only Champions. Only the Best.”

Only Champions? That isn’t true. Runners-ups are playing too. Lots of them, some of them are good, others are Somerset.

Only the Best. But not the best? The best-performed country in World Twenty20 championships is Pakistan; they are the superheroes of Twenty20 cricket. Rajasthan Royals had two pretty important Pakistani members in the first IPL team. Even in Australia they used them domestically. And the last ICL was won by Pakistanis.

When it comes to the term champions in this format, they should probably be first in line. The team that we miss out on is the Silky Stallions (actually title Sialkot, but Silky is snappier) who have won four out of a possible five Twenty20 titles in Pakistan. I have no idea if they are good, but I have no idea if Otago are either, I assume Otago aren’t, but they get a chance to prove me wrong.

Pakistani cricketers have always been my favourite, and it seems wrong to not have them in a tournament like this. Especially when it isn’t their fault. So many idiots have conspired to ensure that there should be an asterisk in the title of this tournament…”

Couldn’t agree with him more. Until Pakistan players do participate, Stani Army will be a Champions League-free zone. Jarrod’s article can be found here. Visit his cricketing blog Cricket With Balls.

As Pakistan clinched the Twenty20 World Cup, Lalit Modi’s business brain must have went into over drive about how he could use the Champions to make more money. Well Lalit, you and your honchos at the ICC should have been more fair on the Pakistanis shouldn’t you? First of all, let’s make it clear that the argument that it was the Pakistan government that prevented it’s cricketers from playing in the IPL, doesn’t hide the fact that they would have been banned by the IPL and/or the Indian government anyway. Anyone who thinks this would not have happened is just fooling themselves. In fact, the Pakistan government did the IPL a favour and Lalit must have breathed a sigh of relief.

The above view is strengthened by the fact that the IPL did nothing to try and reinstate the Pakistani players with their respective franchises when the tournament was moved to South Africa. Yes, it would have been difficult as the franchises had spent on other players and there was not much time. Yet no attempt to include them or even a suggestion was made. As for the time excuse, Modi was commended for organising a tournament in such a small space of time so that doesn’t hold much water.

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Was Lalit Modi talking out of his backside recently when he was quoted as saying “Unfortunately, the Pakistan government won’t give them [Pakistan players] clearance to come to India, and since Saturday was our cut-off date, it’s not possible to have a team from Pakistan this year”. The PCB say they were not consulted or told about any deadlines so why has Pakistan been isolated from the Twenty20 Champions League and why did Modi not just tell the truth?

Some may argue that Pakistan had banned its players from travelling to India so Modi had no choice. The thing is that this was a decision made in regards to the IPL and could have been reviewed and indeed lifted had the PCB been contacted and asked its position in regards to the Champions League. It seems this did not happen. We cannot therefore be too critical of the PCB in regards to knowing what was happening as they were not brought into the fold at all. What we can be critical is of their weak response thus far.

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