Faisalabad Wolves get visas for Champions League
MUMBAI: Raising hopes of a resumption of cricketing ties between the neighbours, Pakistan’s T20 champions, Faisalabad Wolves, were granted visas by the Indian government to participate in the Champions League.
“The Faisalabad Wolves will participate in the CLT20. The team will reach Delhi via Dubai on Saturday. Skipper Misbahul Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Eshan Adil, who are playing Test series against Zimbabwe, will join the squad in Mohali,” a PCB official told HT. The visas were put on hold after firing at the border killed Indian soldiers last month, leading to uncertainty over their participation in the CLT20.
The two nations had played a bilateral one-day series in India last year, and the recent move by the Indian government should give heart to officials from both the sides to look at organising a series between the two rivals.
The timing couldn’t have been better with a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) scheduled in Chennai on Saturday.
PCB’s chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad, is likely to discuss the issue of organising a triseries involving India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the meeting.
Interestingly, if the effort bears fruit, the series, which will be hosted by India in December-January, will replace the limited-over bilateral series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka and also curtail India’s tour of South Africa.
Last week, HT had reported on the prospect of Pakistan play- ing in India instead of the SA series. Ahmad, however, refused to divulge the agenda of ACC’s meeting and details regarding the proposed tri-series. “I cannot say whether the tri-series will be discussed in the meeting.”
While ACCCEO, Syed Ashraful Haq, has already reached India, Ahmad was supposed to reach in the evening.
Sri Lanka Cricket secretary, Nishantha Ranatunga, will represent his board in the meeting of the ACC, which is headed by BCCI president N Srinivasan.