Moeen Ali: Players will not stand for Hundred boycott of Pakistan stars

“There’ll be a group of players that will speak up. There’ll be things done. Anyone that has any sort of concern for these kind of things — it doesn’t matter if they have Pakistani heritage — should speak up. I’ve not really had a chance to speak to anyone, but most players would be on the same page.”

Ali, 38, who is in Sri Lanka commentating on the T20 World Cup, has played in numerous white-ball leagues, including those in South Africa, the UAE and the Caribbean, where several teams are run by IPL franchises. With a few exceptions, no Pakistani players are recruited by them — a reflection of the longstanding political tensions between Pakistan and India.

“These kind of things have been happening for ages. It’s time for a solution because it’s obviously discriminating against certain type of people,” Ali told The Telegraph.

“It’s horrible. All these teams are everywhere in every league. So if players speak out, then it affects their career. When you’re an older player like myself, you don’t really care too much.”

Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, has sent letters to the directors of cricket at Hundred sides warning them about their responsibilities regarding discrimination, but Ali said that when teams were sold to IPL owners last year, the ECB would not have anticipated this problem. “It probably didn’t even cross their mind. Our mindset is not like that in England,” he added.

The four teams bought by IPL owners in last year’s sale from the ECB to private investors are: MI London (formerly Oval Invincibles), Manchester Super Giants (formerly Manchester Originals), Sunrisers Leeds (formerly Northern Superchargers) and Southern Brave.

Sahibzada Farhan, the Pakistan batsman and leading runscorer at this World Cup, insisted that Hundred teams are interested in signing Pakistani cricketers but conceded that the situation is “out of our hands”.

Farhan is one of 13 players in Pakistan’s 15-man World Cup squad who have entered the Hundred auction. Five have put themselves in at the highest price bracket of £100,000 and two spinners, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq, are at £75,000, while Farhan is one of three players at £50,000.

Speaking on the eve of Pakistan’s super eight match against England in Pallekele on Tuesday afternoon, Farhan, 29, said of his prospects in the auction: “I’m very hopeful. Every player wants to play every league, play in the good leagues, and the Hundred is one of the best leagues. So I hope for the best.

“But this is not in our hands — who picks us, or who doesn’t. Whichever team is interested in picking us can, and we are ready to play in that league. It’s not like people are not interested in us.”

Farhan is one of several white-ball specialists who might be granted No Objection Certificates by the Pakistan board as they would not be required for their Test tour to West Indies in July and three Tests in England from August 19. Others would include Shadab Khan, Saim Ayub and Naseem Shah.

The shadow “ban” of Pakistan players, if that is what it is, is perhaps driven more by the Indian cricket board than the owners of the IPL franchises, and is not in fact comprehensive.

Two Pakistan players are exceptions who have been signed by teams owned by IPL franchises. Imad Wasim has played for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (who are in the stable of Red Chillies Entertainment, owners of Kolkata Knight Riders) and the Major League Cricket side Seattle Orcas, run by GMR, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, who recently took over Southern Brave in the Hundred. The fast bowler Zaman Khan has also played for Seattle.

Meanwhile, Farhan said Pakistan had noted England’s tribulations against slow bowling at the World Cup and in particular their struggles against Dunith Wellalage and Maheesh Theekshana during Sunday’s win over Sri Lanka.

“They were struggling against the spinners,” he said. “We have one of the best spin attacks so I am confident that we will give them a tough time tomorrow.”

Pakistan are expected to bring in an extra spinner, Abrar, for the seamer Faheem Ashraf, which would mean they could deploy five frontline spinners (in the group match against India, they used six). Almost 80 per cent of all Pakistan’s overs so far have been bowled by spin, more than any of the other super-eight teams.

England have lost 19 wickets to spinners and scored at 8.52 runs per over against them, compared to 13 wickets to pace at a rate of 9.02 an over.

England have confirmed that they will play three Tests in South Africa next winter. They are: Johannesburg, December 17-21; Centurion, December 26-30 and Cape Town, January 3-7. There will then be three ODIs from January 10-15. A proposed T20 series will be rescheduled at a later date.

England v Pakistan

Click here to read article