The potential embargo could involve cricket matches – which already do not exist – hockey games, which occur once in like a gazillion years, and even Bollywood films. Or at least that is what most voices that matter in Pakistan are suggesting. Phrases ranging from insult to the Pakistani cricket team to insult to the country as a whole have been doing the rounds, as some players have termed it as a ‘conspiracy against Pakistan as a whole which was being hatched for the last three or four months.’

Really now, while being hurt and disappointed at not been selected for one or other franchise for the IPL and not making that quick buck is only justified, the rest of the jamboree that seems to have followed is nothing short of over-reaction.

The critics from Pakistan have pointed fingers at everything plausible. The Indian Government, the IPL functioning committee and the franchises have all been blamed, and for someone observing it as a neutral, one cannot understand what the shenanigans are all about.

It is a private tournament, which like any other multi-national company in the world is not governed by what the government says. At best, it can consult the government and any decision that it has to take has to be its own prerogative, not the government’s. This was evident in the previous year’s IPL when the tournament had been shifted to South Africa despite the government asking them to postpone the whole tournament.

That leaves the IPL and the franchises, and one cannot see how a collective decision to exclude the Pakistanis would have benefited either one of them. In fact, the IPL committee would understand that the presence of Pakistani cricketers and the ensuing following of the game in that country would make for better revenues for the league. And one cannot see any real motive behind conspiring to deliberately do this after strategising for a definite period of times.

The hard and cold fact is that the performances of the teams depend on players who would be there through the entire duration of the tournament; players for whom the franchises did not have to worry too much about after having a lot on their plate already. So, if the visas of such players did not arrive on time because of the cold vibes existing between the two governments, then, it sure could have been an issue for the team unity; apart from adding to the unnecessary things to ponder about for the owners.

While it is easy to say that politics and sport should not be mixed, it is much more difficult to implement it. Gone are the days when cricketers or sportsmen could live in that cocoon of safety despite the existing threat to the world security; and in the prevailing scenario, it is only evident that the Pakistani cricketers touring India – or vice versa – would elicit an unnecessary security threat to those concerned.