Pakistan's Inzamam set for rebel series by AFP

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Player:

Inzamam-ul-Haq

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DateLine: 31st July 2007

 

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said Monday he was set to join a multi-million-dollar breakaway cricket series in India, as officials warned it could end his Test career.

 

Inzamam, 37, who retired from one-day cricket in March after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup, said he is in talks with the organisers of the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

 

The rebel series is being promoted by India's largest listed media group, Zee Telefilms.

 

"I was contacted by the ICL people when I was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last week and since I am not under a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) contract I see it as an opportunity," Inzamam told AFP.

 

Inzamam was not among the 20 players who were given central contracts last month. The PCB has already announced it will not allow its contracted players to feature in the series.

 

Inzamam said the league would give him much-needed practice.

 

"There is no international cricket to get the required match practice and I think by joining this league I will get an opportunity to get that and play Test cricket whenever I get a chance," said Inzamam.

 

"I will only decide after seeing the terms and conditions. My top priority is still to get 10,000 runs in Test cricket and to play for Pakistan," said Inzamam.

 

But Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf said any player joining the league would be ruled out of future internationals.

 

"Our position on the breakaway Indian league is clear and firm. Since it (league) is not approved by the ICC any player joining it will not be considered for future selection," Ashraf told AFP without mentioning Inzamam's name.

 

"No current player will be allowed to sign the league and all cricket boards of the world have this same stance."

 

If the burly Inzamam, currently on 8,813 Test runs, joins he will be the second big star to sign up after West Indian maestro Brian Lara.

 

The organisers have also targeted Test cricket's highest wicket-taker Shane Warne and a host of other international players, including New Zealand's Stephen Fleming.

 

The ICL, officially unveiled by Zee supremo Subhash Chandra in May this year, features six teams, each featuring four international players, two Indian stars and eight up-and-coming cricketers playing Twenty20 matches across India.

 

Ashraf said most of the players joining the league had either retired or have one or two years of international cricket left.

 

"You can judge by their signing, only those players who have retired or on the verge of retiring have signed," he said.

 

"Even those who have signed as officials like Kapil Dev and Kiran More, they too have resigned from their official posts."

 

The dates and venues for the series, which has not been recognised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), have yet to be announced.

 

The ICL, which carries a winner's purse of one million dollars, in many ways resembles late Australian TV mogul Kerry Packer's World Cricket Series that took on the establishment in 1977.

 

Packer roped in the world's top players for the rebel series after being denied official TV rights by the Australian Cricket Board for matches played in the country.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)