Azhar Mahmood wants Pakistani players in IPL

Azhar Mahmood wants Pakistani players in IPL

After getting British passport, Azhar Mahmood gets an entry to Indian Premier League (IPL). The doors of the Twenty20 league are still shut for Pakistani players but Mahmood is keen to see cricketers from his native land playing in the championship.

Pakistani cricketers took part in the inaugural edition of the league but their participation was denied after that. The auctions for the fifth edition have been completed but Mahmood, who will play for Kings XI Punjab, still urged the authorities to find
some way out to bring Pakistani players in the league.

“I would like to see Pakistani players participating in the IPL. The BCCI and the PCB should sit together and sort out the issue. There is no problem in picking the Pakistani players as they would like to participate in a tournament like IPL. I believe that
my playing for the Kings XI Punjab team would lead to IPL franchises sit up and take notice of Pakistani cricketers as that would help in normalisation and resumption of bilateral ties. Don`t deny them the chance to play in the IPL,” he said.

The 36-year-old served Pakistan in 21 Tests, scoring 900 runs including three fantastic hundreds. His ODI stats are even more impressive as he has scored over 1500 runs in 143 ODIs for Pakistan. He also has 39 Test and 123 ODI wickets to his credit.

The Rawalpindi-born player is currently playing in the Bangladesh Premier League where he is doing a superb job both with the bat and ball. He is keen to perpetuate his good work to the Indian Premier League, starting in April this year.

Mahmood also described that his experience of playing county cricket in England will help him do well in the Indian league.

“My county experience will definitely help me in the IPL. I have been playing county cricket for past seven years and now I am also part of the Bangladesh Premier League, so I will bring all my experience and talent into play while turning up for Kings XI
Punjab,” he shared.

He added, “I am very excited about it. It feels really great to be associated with a tournament like IPL as it is the biggest tournament after international cricket. I always wanted to feature in the League.”

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=13707

Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Feb 24 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry