KOLKATA: So what if India’s politicised cricket administrators bar Pakistan cricketers from taking part in lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL), their owners still welcome Pakistani players in their teams they bought overseas.
According to details, IPL team owners, who also have bought teams in the Caribbean League, have not refrained from picking Pakistani players fr their teams, including King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan.
Four Pakistani players, Sohail Tanvir, Imad Wasim, Shoiab Malik and Umar Akmal will play for the teams of CPL, owned by IPL owners.
Shoaib Malik will turn out for Barbados Trident, bought earlier this year by troubled Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya – who formerly owned the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore, and still remains its “chief mentor”.
However, it is rumoured that Mallya, hounded by Indian banks for dues of over INR 90 billion (about PKR 140 billion), has since then re-sold the franchise to Nita Ambani, who owns IPL team Mumbai Indians.
Shoaib Malik will be playing for Nita Ambani’s Barbados Trident. The franchise was bought earlier this year by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore. The franchise was resold to Nita later, who owns Mumbai Indians.
Umar Akmal will play for Trinbago Knight Riders, co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan and the husband-wife duo of industrialist Jay Mehta and actress Juhi Chawla.
The third Pakistani picked up at the CPL auctions, Imad Wasim, was bought by Jamaica Tallawahs, winner of the inaugural tournament in 2013 and co-owned by two Dallas, US-based Indian-American entrepreneurs Manish Patel and Ron Parikh.
Incidentally, Hollywood actor Gerard Butler has a small stake in Jamaica Tallawahs.
And finally, Sohail Tanvir will turn out for Guyana Amazon Trident, owned by a Guyanese businessman of Indian origin, Ranjisingh Ramroop.
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