Karachi: Pakistan's senior batsman Mohammad Hafeez has turned down a lucrative offer from Chittagong Vikings to play in the Bangladesh Premier League since the franchise had also signed on tainted young pacer Mohammad Amir.
“It is not about individuals or any personality clash. It is about the image of Pakistan cricket. I cannot play with any player who has tarnished and brought a bad name to the country,” Hafeez told the ‘Jang' newspaper in Dubai.
The newspaper reported that Hafeez had got a lucrative offer to play for Chittagong Vikings in the third edition of the BPL but he turned it down because Amir was in their side.
Hafeez apparently turned down an offer of around 10 million Pakistani rupees as the franchise had already signed on Aamir.
Hafeez has also made his feelings about the three tainted players in the spot fixing scandal – Amir, Salman Butt and Muhammad Asif – clear in the past.
On one occasion when the Pakistan team was practicing at the national cricket academy in Lahore, its former bowling coach Muhammad Akram invited Muhammad Aamir to bowl to Hafeez in the nets. But Hafeez flatly refused to face the left-armer because of his tainted past.
Hafeez is also said to be among a group of players in the Pakistan team who are strongly opposed to allowing the tainted trio to play for the national team again in any format.
The BPL has attracted around 16 top players from Pakistan and most of these players will go directly from Dubai after the T20 series against England to Dhaka.
The top players include Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah etc.
