After SRK, Sports minister unhappy over IPL bid fiasco

Sympathy continues to pour in for the snubbed Pakistani cricketers with Sports Minister M S Gill today advising the IPL authorities to take a lesson from the auction "fiasco" and hoping that players from across the border would get a chance to play in the T20 event.

Sympathy continues to pour in for the snubbed Pakistani cricketers with Sports Minister M S Gill on Wednesday advising the IPL authorities to take a lesson from the auction "fiasco" and hoping that players from across the border would get a chance to play in the T20 event.

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None of the 11 Pakistani players in the fray was picked by any of the eight Indian Premier League franchisees in the
January 19 auction in Mumbai and entire Pakistan cried foul after the snub.

Players like Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir called it a 'humiliation' of their country, but subsequently offered to put
behind the episode and make themselves available for the cash-awash league.

Asked for his reaction on the Pakistani players' stance, Gill said he welcomed their statement and would like to see them play in India again.

"I have seen the graceful response of some Pakistani cricketers to the IPL auction fiasco. I welcome the remarks and hope there will soon be an opportunity for these boys to play exciting cricket in India," Gill told PTI.

Clearly unhappy with collective snub to the Pakistani cricketers, Gill asked the franchisee owners to learn a lesson from the episode.