Pakistan players to 'avoid' IPL in future?

Karachi:

Hurt Pakistani cricketers have decided to "avoid" the Indian Premier League until Indo-Pak diplomatic ties don't normalise, sources in the team revealed on Thursday.

The players, who didn't find a buyer in the third IPL auction on Tuesday, held a meeting in Brisbane, where the team will play an ODI series against Australia. They decided it was best to ignore the event at least for the time being.

"The players unanimously decided to avoid playing in the IPL in future and until at least relations between the two countries normalised," one source said.

"The players were pretty upset that no franchise was willing to bid for them and they all felt this was a planned move by the IPL and franchises to humiliate them publicly," the source said.

The source said the players agreed to not play in the IPL until bilateral cricket ties resume between the two countries.

He said the players are also concerned about the non-payment of their dues for the one-day series they played against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi despite the passage of two months.

"The players have not received their match and tour fees for the three one day matches and two Twenty20 internationals," one source confirmed.

Players in the A category of the central contracts get paid Rs 300,000 per ODI and Rs 125,000 for the Twenty20s similarly those in the B category get Rs 250,000 and Rs 100,000 respectively.

"The players had issues with the delay in distribution of their money and have decided to talk to the Chairman on returning to Pakistan over the inordinate delays in payments," the source added.

The PCB is also due to give out new central contracts later this month.