Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali asked the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to “keep an eye” and do everything in its power to ensure that the Pakistan players feature in the upcoming edition of The Hundred. According to several reports, the four teams with Indian investment won’t pursue Pakistan players, and hence their participation will be limited to teams without any Indian connection.
Despite these reports, several Pakistan players, including Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Tariq, Sahibzada Farhan and Salman Ali Agha, have signed up for the auction set to take place on March 11 and 12. But whether teams show any interest, only time will tell.
Moeen said that if Pakistan players don’t feature in the tournament, then it would be a massive shame as there can be no scope for discrimination in sport. IPL teams have not picked any Pakistani cricketer after the inaugural edition of the tournament. Franchises with Indian involvement in the SA20 or ILT20 have also followed a similar stance, maintaining a significant distance from players from Pakistan.
“In the UK, I’m not sure that can happen – and I hope it doesn’t happen. It just shouldn’t happen, hopefully it won’t happen. We just have to wait and see if it does, but I think it’d be a massive shame, and I’m sure the ECB will definitely keep an eye out,” Moeen told Telegraph Sport.
“There’ll be a group of players that will speak up. There’ll be things done about it. I think players should speak up. Anyone that has any sort of concern for these kind of things – it doesn’t matter if they have Pakistani heritage – should speak up. Obviously, the news is very new. So I’ve not really had a chance to speak to anyone, but most of the players would be on the same page. It’d be really interesting to see what happens, because I genuinely think other countries can do what they want, obviously, we’re not in control of those things, but in the UK, we have a bit more say about these things,” he added.
‘Don’t want to knock India’
The former England spinner, who was part of the 2019 World Cup-winning squad, stated that he doesn’t want to say anything about India and that his comment is about every cricketer being given a fair shot at being picked in franchise tournaments around the world.
He also raised his voice in favour of India and Pakistan playing a Test match against each other in neutral venues, saying it would be best for the longest format of the game.
“I’ve had amazing experiences playing there. I don’t want to knock India or anything like that. Playing IPL was the best thing that happened for my career. I’ve been treated amazingly well there. I played with some of the best players in the world who treated me like one of their own. When you’re there, it’s one of the best places to play,” said Moeen.
“I would love to see Pakistan play India in England at a neutral ground. I think it’d be amazing for Test cricket, because they never play against each other. The crowds would be amazing, and the following would be amazing. Imagine what it’ll do for the game. The following that the teams have in England is huge. It’d be amazing to have that,” he added.
The Indian investment in four teams in the Hundred was confirmed last year. Southern Brave (GMR), MI London (Reliance), Manchester Super Giants (RPSG Group), and SunRisers Leeds (Sun Group) are the four franchises to have Indians involved.
Moeen said that when the teams were being sold off, the ECB wouldn’t have considered a situation where Pakistan players could be at risk.
It probably didn’t even cross their mind that much, honestly, because our mindset is not like that in England, I just think when they sold, it just didn’t cross their mind,” concluded Moeen.
