'Playing in IPL better than playing against Pakistan': Vaughan refuses to apologise after 'disrespectful' comment

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Michael Vaughan has hilariously refused to apologise to the Pakistan cricket team after his 'disrespectful' comment in which he said that it would have been better for England players to play in IPL rather than facing the Men in Green ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024.

After Pakistan were completely outplayed in the second T20I in Birmingham on Saturday, Michael Vaughan reckoned that the ECB should have instead allowed the England players to stay in the IPL 2024 and play some competitive cricket.

Pakistan fans did not take the comment one, and one of them asked the former England captain to apologise if the Men in Green win the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the West Indies next month.

"Michael Vaughan literally disrespecting the Pakistan bowlers with his comments on the IPL. This is heartbreaking. Hey, @MichaelVaughan! Will you apologize to Pakistan fans if we win the World Cup? And you need an IPL contract or what?" the fan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

"No," Vaughan wrote in a hilarious one word reply to the fan.

Vaughan had opined that it would have been better for the likes of Jos Buttler, Will Jacks, and Phil Salt by calling them home for the 4-match T20I series against Babar Azam's Pakistan. He said, players are exposed to high-quality and high-pressure in the IPL, and that would have helped the defending champions in the T20 World Cup 2024.

"I'm all for international cricket, but now and again this tournament (IPL) in particular is so exposed to pressure, and these players are under a huge amount of pressure from fans, owners (and) social media, it's massive," said Vaughan on a Club Prairie Fire podcast.

"They (ECB) have missed the trick by sending all their players home. Will Jacks, Phil Salt, (and) Jos Buttler in particular, playing in the IPL in the Eliminations pressure, crowd expectation, I would argue that playing here (IPL) is better preparation than playing a T20 game against Pakistan," Vaughan opined.

"I just felt particularly those two (Salt and Jacks) and Buttler probably not as much, but I still think he could have stayed here. But Will Jacks and Phil Salt, they would have been better prepared (for T20 WC) staying here playing in the IPL than going back to Headingley to play a game.

Australian great Adam Gilchrist too felt England players missed a big opportunity to play in the business end of the IPL 2024.

"I'm sure there's a number of players that could have fulfilled those obligations in the international setup (vs Pakistan) there, but the guys that were actively involved in the IPL in the finals period (Buttler, Salt and Jacks), yeah, I think that's a missed opportunity, too. Spot on (Vaughan)," said Gilchrist.

"What you're walking out into, what you're learning from, all the various aspects that the glare and the focus and the microscope on you because that's going to prepare you for what they would hope (in T20 World Cup). Every nation hopes to be playing in a World Cup final eventually," he added.