According to a report by BBC Sport, leaked WhatsApp messages suggested that IPL-owned franchises may avoid selecting Pakistani players at the upcoming auction. However, 67 Pakistani players have registered for the long-list published last week.
“In the UK, I’m not sure that can happen and I hope it doesn’t happen,” Moeen told The Telegraph. “It just shouldn’t happen, hopefully it won’t happen. We just have to wait and see if it does, but I think it’d be a massive shame, and I’m sure the ECB will definitely keep an eye out.”
“There’ll be a group of players that will speak up,” he added. “There’ll be things done about it. I think players should speak up. Anyone that has any sort of concern for these kind of things, it doesn’t matter if they have Pakistani heritage, should speak up.”
The Indian Premier League has not featured Pakistani players since its inaugural 2008 season following the Mumbai terror attacks. Similarly, no Pakistan cricketer has appeared in SA20, where all six franchises are Indian-owned.
“Obviously, the news is very new,” Moeen said. “So I’ve not really had a chance to speak to anyone, but most of the players would be on the same page. It’d be really interesting to see what happens, because I genuinely think other countries can do what they want, obviously we’re not in control of those things, but in the UK, we have a bit more say about these things.”
