According to the sports management company representing the players, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal would not be traveling to South Africa now. The players have decided to give priority to national duty and attend the conditioning camp at Bhurban from Thursday, an official of the company said on Tuesday. He said that the company representative would now travel to South Africa to meet with IPL officials and the franchisee owners who had contracted the Pakistani players.
Apart from those four Pakistani players, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq also had their IPL contracts cancelled or suspended after the Pakistan government advised the players not to travel to India for the second edition of the Twenty20 league, which was later shifted to South Africa because of the elections in India. The players claimed that the IPL authorities neither
allowed them to play in second IPL, nor explained why their contracts were either suspended or cancelled. The players also claim the IPL owes them outstanding contractual money.
Incidentally, the company representative is in London at present to meet with the President of the Federation of International Cricketers (FICA) Tim May to seek his advice on the dispute with the IPL. The company had earlier said four of the players, including Malik, Tanvir and Butt, would be traveling to South Africa this week to meet with the IPL and franchise officials. Malik said the players had authorised the company to negotiate with the IPL and franchisees on their behalf as they wanted to be financially compensated for missing out on the IPL and over the non-professional way the IPL had handled the contractual issues.
A press release issued by the company quoted Malik as saying that the players hoped that the IPL and their franchisees would be fair towards them and resolve the issues.
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