Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has quashed the rumours that he’s invited Virat Kohli to play or attend the upcoming second season of the Kashmir Premier League in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (Pok).
There has been heavy reporting that the former India captain was invited by the organisers of the KPL to either take part in the league or at least attend a couple of games in order to bring some peace to the two arch-rivals.
Rashid Latif clarifies over Virat Kohli rumours
Rashid Latif, the competition’s Director of Cricket Operations, confirmed that he hasn’t said a single thing about sending a request to Kohli. Instead, he revealed that it’s been the desire of Arif Malik, the tournament president, to have the star Indian batsman attend the KPL.
Speaking on Waheed Khan’s Youtube channel, Latif said: “I didn’t speak about it [about Virat Kohli]. It was my boss, Arif Malik, who talked about the possibility of inviting Virat Kohli. And whether he comes or not it’s his choice. But it’s Malik’s idea to invite outside players and even Indians. But I haven’t said anything [on Kohli].”
Earlier, KPL President Arif Malik expressed strongly that he’d like to invite Kohli to the upcoming KPL season as intentions to reduce some animosity between the two nations.
“We have a clear cut message for across the border. We want to do everything peacefully and keeping that in mind, we are writing a letter to Virat Kohli. He is one of the great players and now even players like Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi are in the ICC rankings. When we talk about peace, all the guys should be on the same page,” Arif Malik said on Facebook.
“We recently saw that [Mohammad] Rizwan gave a very positive message that cricket should be beyond everything. Which is why we are writing a letter to Virat Kohli. Either he can come and play or at least attend one or two matches. It is up to him whether he wants to be a part of the tournament as a player or as a chief guest. We want to bring people of both sides together so that we can spread the message of peace.”
The KPL season 2 will start on August 1 and conclude on August 14 (Pakistan’s Independence Day) in the Pok.
