Former international cricket players said they are being threatened and warned by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) against taking part in the inaugural Kashmir Premier League (KPL) cricket tournament.
On Saturday, former South Africa cricketer Herschelle Gibbs has claimed that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) is threatening him and doing everything possible to prevent him from playing Kashmir Premier League.
“Completely unnecessary of the @BCCI to bring their political agenda with Pakistan into the equation and trying to prevent me playing in the @kpl_20. Also threatening me saying they won’t allow me entry into India for any cricket-related work. Ludicrous,” Gibbs said in a tweet.
On Saturday, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif too had made similar allegations. “The @BCCI warning cricket boards that if their former players took part in Kashmir Premier League, they won’t be allowed entry in India or allowed to work in Indian cricket at any level or in any capacity. Gibbs, Dilshan, @MontyPanesar & several others have been selected in KPL.”
The BCCI did not make any comments yet.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PBC) has expressed its displeasure over reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has called multiple ICC Members and forced them to withdraw their retired cricketers from the Kashmir Premier League.
In a statement on Saturday, the PBC said “It considers that the BCCI has brought the game into disrepute by issuing warnings to multiple ICC Members to stop their retired cricketers from featuring in the Kashmir Premier League, further threatening they will not be allowed entry into India for cricket-related work.”
“Such conduct from the BCCI is completely unacceptable, against the preamble of the Spirit of Cricket and sets a dangerous precedence, which can neither be tolerated nor ignored,” the statement added.“The PCB will raise this matter at the appropriate ICC forum and also reserves the right to take any further action that is available to us within the ICC charter.”
The KPL is scheduled to start on August 6 in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan. The matches will be played in Muzaffarabad Cricket Stadium.
The Kashmir Premier League (KPL) is a tournament that was conceived by a Pakistani politician called Shehryar Khan Afridi. The tournament will have six teams: Overseas Warriors, Muzaffarabad Tigers, Rawalakot Hawks, Bagh Stallions, Mirpur Royals and Kotli Lions are the six teams in the tournament. Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Shadab Khan, Shoaib Malik, and Kamran Akmal are the skippers of their respective teams.
Each team will have five players from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). The area has remained disputed between India and Pakistan and continues to be the bone of contention between the two neighbors.
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