Politics takes over as IPL snubs Pakistan cricketers

Pakistan may be the Twenty20 cricket world champions but the country's status as a pariah was confirmed at the player auction for this year's Indian Premier League, where not one of the 11 Pakistanis on offer was sold.

The decision to snub players like Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul would appear to be politically motivated and did not go down well among the Pakistani contingent after the event.

The auction took place in Mumbai, the scene of the 2008 terror attacks that forced the IPL to switch venues to South Africa the following year. Pakistani players were banned from the 2009 tournament in the aftermath and cricketing ties between India and Pakistan were severed. 

Pakistani players were only allowed to put themselves forward for this year's event after much political wrangling. However all 11 Pakistani players were overlooked by the Indian franchises, despite their obvious talents.

Afridi, who played in the inaugural tournament in India in 2008 for the Deccan chargers, said: "The way I see it, the IPL and India have made fun of us and our country by treating us this way".

Sohail Tanvir, one of the stars of 2008, commented: "The franchises have taken a decision not based on cricketing sense but on political grounds which is a shame and has hurt the image of the sport."

Shortly after the IPL is the World Twenty20 championship and there will be plenty of needle should the reigning champions Pakistan play India.

English players were almost as unpopular as the Pakistanis, and the only one to find a buyer was Eoin Morgan who was sold to the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a fee of £134,000.

Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Monty Panesar and Mark Ramprakash among others were overlooked. Other English players are already contracted to franchises and will take part in the 2010 tournament that starts in March.

Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Ravi Bopara, Graham Napier and Owais Shah will all feature. Andrew Flintoff his contracted to the Chennai Super Kings but will miss the tournament because of injury.

West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond were the biggest buys at auction, each fetching the maximum bid of $750,000. ·