Cricket is loser in IPL auction

The future of Test matches between subcontinental neighbours is now in jeopardy after snub to Pakistan players.

Sporting rivalries do not come any more fiercely contested than Test matches between India and Pakistan. The question now is whether there will be any more series between the subcontinental neighbours after the Indian Premier League (IPL) snubbed Pakistan players in the recent auction. There have been many memorable encounters between the two cricket-mad countries and these have brought out the best among players and supporters alike and Test matches have acquired a status on a par with any sporting spectacle.

"India versus Pakistan is our Ashes. We must play it," said Raj Singh Dungarpur, the former Board of Control for Cricket in India president just before the resumption of Test matches between the two countries in 1998. The two-match series was a huge hit. Pakistan won the first Test in the last hour of the final day in Chennai and were cheered by the Indian crowd, a sight which the captain Wasim Akram will never forget.

The second Test in Delhi ended India's way with Anil Kumble bagging all 10 Pakistan wickets. But will the two sides ever again do battle in a Test arena? "There is a very slim chance of us playing again now," Shahid Afridi was quoted as saying. "We are the International Cricket Council World T20 champions and we are not considered for a major T20 tournament. It's shocking. "I feel particularly bad since I was the man of the match in the World T20 semi-final as well as the final. Sohail Tanvir [Rajasthan Royals] was the highest wicket-taker in the 2008 IPL. Have people forgotten all this?"

The Pakistan all-rounder loves making big statements, but this one does not sound unrealistic. Afridi and his teammates have been dealt a low blow and the manner in which the IPL handled the Pakistan issue is deplorable. The sport has taken a beating because someone decided that shying away from the truth was a good way to wriggle out of a problem. Funny, how people never learn. Considering that the IPL is an Indian domestic competition, the absence of Pakistan players should not have caused concerns over the future of bilateral ties.

But the Pakistan players involved have reacted strongly and that has put India versus Pakistan cricket in jeopardy. There is no greater thrill for spectators from either side of the border than to watch India play Pakistan. Friendships are forged because of cricket. When Indian fans visited Pakistan to watch the 2003-04 Test and one-day series, taxi drivers refused to accept money from them. Indians were treated like kings and gift shops offered huge discounts to every visitor.

And I remember Pakistani cricketers being given massive discounts and gifts from shop owners at a mall in Bangalore a few hours after the team defeated India in a Test match. Sadly, because of the IPL controversy, we may not see these sights again. Sure, there may have been a security threat to Pakistani players. Indeed, there are political parties who could mar Indian cricket's biggest gig, but these factors could have been admitted in a public forum rather than giving Pakistan the cold shoulder.

When the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi read the story about there being no Pakistani presence in the IPL two days before the auction, he reacted by saying the report was "fiction". Another IPL office bearer called it "rubbish". A couple of days later, fiction turned out to be the truth. Darren Berry, Rajasthan Royals' director of coaching, wrote a piece in The Age newspaper which said that a few weeks ago Umar Akmal was on his team's priority list but he did not know what happened after that.

This only brings to light that there was a change in heart. What actually happened over the past two weeks could well be cricket's best-kept secret. Was it government pressure? Was there a decision among team owners not to bid for any Pakistan players and say they did not match their requirements or was there something so sinister that the cricketing world would have gasped in disbelief? Someone should be more generous with the truth.

Team officials may say that they did not contrive to leave the Pakistan players out, but there does seem to have been a decision made not to pick them. For their benefit, I must mention the Little Oxford English Dictionary's (and it is an Indian edition) definition of contrived: 1. Plan or achieve something in a clever or skilful way. 2. Manage to do something foolish. The biggest sin the IPL committed was retaining the Pakistan players on the auction list despite concerns.

This is not to say there would not have been a uproar had the tournament's bosses been clear in their stand. Modi's effigy would have still been set on fire; Afridi would have still hit across the line and the Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ejaz Butt would have still gloated about his side's Under 19 World Cup win over India and relate that to the IPL snub. But there would not have been accusations of being schemers. That is a lot harder to accept than just being called ruthless and insensitive.

India and Pakistan must build their cricketing bridges. And Raj Singh Dungarpur, the greatest cricket lover cum administrator the game has known, will say from up above: "It's our Ashes. We must play it." Indeed! Clayton Murzello is the Group Sports Editor of the Indian news- paper Midday @Email:[e-mail]