As the three Kashmiri cricketers have got their names listed in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) player’s auction, J&K Government is also using its influence as a last attempt to make their entry into teams.
The 2018 IPL player auction in Bengaluru on January 27-28 has created a buzz ahead of the 11th season of the T20 league.
From an original pool of 1122, there will be 578 cricketers up for auction; of these, 360 are Indian and the rest overseas players. The list of 578 includes 244 capped players, 332 uncapped and two associate players. A total of 182 players can be purchased.
The long list of 578 cricketers who are up for grabs also includes three cricketers from Kashmir. They include Parvez Rasool, Umar Nazir and Manzoor Dar (Pandav). While Parvez Rasool who is only International cricketer from J&K has previously been part of IPL, Umar last year went unsold and Pandav is new entrant this season.
According to sources, J&K Government this time is going to pull out all stops in order to make sure that at least two Kashmiri cricketers make it to IPL .
“This season there will be couple of JK cricketers in the IPL teams. Getting in auction list is first step and now Government is trying to influence franchisees to buy those players for their teams. The aim behind this is to make these cricketers role models for the young generation of Kashmiris,” said a source.
“Though Parvez is already a star cricketer and JK team captain, Pandav too is not far behind when it comes to local popularity. Parvez has got very good chance of making comeback in IPL this time with all teams having to restructure their whole squads. Pandav on the other hand is recent T20 sensation in Kashmir and has garnered quite a bit buzz in national cricket arena. Umar is also in news from last year when he got into zonal team. Government is in touch with the concerned BCCI officials and if everything goes well we may see all these three players being picked up in auction,” source added.
Parvez being capped player is up for grabs in auction for the base price of Rs 50 Lakhs while as Pandav and Umar being uncapped are up for grabs for the price of Rs 20 lakhs.
However last year too, Government had tried to push for the inclusion of Umar Nazir in the IPL but both Parvez and Umar went unsold.
“Last year also government had tried to get Umar included into the team. However efforts didn’t materialize,” said a source. (Courtesy Greater Kashmir)