Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor on Tuesday urged the Indian Premier League authorities to consider including Pakistani cricket players in this year’s Twenty20 competition as cricketers from all around the world were being given a chance to showcase their talent.
The 64-year-old actor took to Twitter on the eve of the opening ceremony of the tenth edition of the IPL, where he implored the authorities to consider the neighbours case.
“IPL. You got world players. Afghanistan makes debut. My plea is please consider Pakistani players,” tweeted Rishi.
IPL. You got world players. Afghanistan makes debut. My plea is please consider Pakistani players.Phir match hoga! Hum bade log hain.Please!
— Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) April 4, 2017
In IPL 2017, two Afghanistan cricketers Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan will make their debut in the T20 league tournament for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The “Kapoor and Sons” star added that keeping the differences aside, Indians should rise to the occasion as a kinder nation and let the games begin again.
“Phir match hoga! Hum bade log hain. (Match must be played again. We are a benevolent people.) Please!” continued Rishi.
The veteran actors plea comes in after the ties between the two countries are going through a rough patch.
His tweet received plenty of support from cricket fans on the microblogging site, Twitter.
agree with you sir
— garima srivastav EF (@garimaIII) April 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/Waqas_amjad/status/849321535945015296
If you remove politics from India and Pakistan then there's nothing that separates the two nations..
— Bhavin Trivedi (@iambhavin_trvd) April 4, 2017
Rishi Kapoor shb, Pakistan loves you. Peshawar, your ancestral city, loves you. ?
— Muhammad Arslan (@iArslanAshraf) April 4, 2017
No Pakistani player has played in the IPL after 2008 (year of its inception).
The tenth edition of IPL is all set to begin from today where Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad.
(With PTI inputs)