Former England captain Michael Vaughan on Saturday took a shocking U-turn on his earlier notion about the ECB's decision to pull out England players from the ongoing IPL 2024 for the home series against Pakistan in preparation for the T20 World Cup in June. While he had defended the call earlier last week amid the backlash from veteran Indian cricketers, he lashed out at the decision during the second T20I match of the series between England and Pakistan.

Ahead of the start of the IPL 2024 playoffs last week, ECB called their T20 World Cup-bound players back home for a final preparation for the ICC event. Hence, Will Jacks (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Phil Salt (Kolkata Knight Riders), and Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals) were absent from crucial knockout games for their respective IPL franchises.

Speaking on Club Praire Fire podcast, Vaughan reckoned that England missed the trick by calling back the aforementioned trio, explaining that the high-pressure IPL playoffs matches would have provided them with better preparation for the World Cup than playing the series against Pakistan, where the opening game was washed out due to rain.

"I think you’re going to miss the trick by sending all their players home. You know, I think Will Jacks, Phil Salt, Jos Butler, in particular, playing in the IPL in the eliminators, pressure, crowd, expectation. I would argue that playing here is better preparation than playing a T20 game against Pakistan," he said.

The comments left a Pakistan journalist enraged as he took to social media to accuse Vaughan of disrespecting the Babar Azam-led side before asking the veteran batter whether he would apologise if the team goes on to win the T20 World Cup next month.

His tweet read: "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?"

Vaughan responded with a simple one-word, yet savage answer: “No.”

Pakistan, who witnessed a captaincy change from Shaheen Afridi to Babar, and saw the return of Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim from their retirements, have not had a favourable run in the build-up to the World Cup, which they last won in 2009. Against a second-string New Zealand side, Pakistan managed a 2-2 draw before Ireland stunned them in their series opener, however, they did bounce back. Later, the Men in Green incurred a 23-run loss in the second T20I against England on Saturday to trail 0-1 in the four-match series.

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