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The Indian Government has moved to distance itself from the results of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, where none of the 11 Pakistan players up for sale attracted bids, as the snub threatens to further damage relations between the two countries.

Some of the Pakistan players, as well as several former players, have expressed outrage that no Pakistanis were picked at the auction in Mumbai.

But India’s sports minister MS Gill said: "IPL is not only a cricket league but it is also a commercial enterprise and the Government of India and the sports ministry has nothing to do with them."

Gill's statement was a reaction to claims of "discriminatory treatment" made by his counterpart Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, the Pakistan sports minister.

"I have phoned the sports minister of India and recorded a protest over the unjust and discriminatory treatment meted out to the Pakistani cricketers," Jakhrani told AFP. "It is indeed a matter of disrespect of Pakistani heroes, who are the champions of the Twenty20 World Cup.”