Pak team denied visa, but BCCI hopeful

While news poured in that Pakistan’s national T20 champion, Faisalabad Wolves, have been denied Indian visa for their participation in the upcoming Champions League T20, Indian cricket board official said that a final decision on the issue is awaited.

Speaking to dna, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and a member of the IPL governing council, Sanjay Patel, said, “I am also following it on the media that they (Faisalabad Wolves) have been denied visa. I don’t have any idea. We are still awaiting final confirmation from the authorities.”

He added, “Having invited the Pakistan team for our tournament, we will approach the home ministry. We have sent letters to this extent to the home ministry (to give them visa). There is still hope.”

Another official, who did not want to be named, said, “We have sent a letter to the home ministry on Wednesday. It is a regular procedure that whenever BCCI invites teams to play, it has to inform the home ministry and we have done that. We are still waiting for the reply.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board has said that it hasn’t received any news regarding the denial of visa to its T20 champion team, a spokesman told this paper from Pakistan.

Faisalabad Wolves, to be led by their national captain Misbah-ul-Haq, are to play the qualification matches starting in Mohali on September 17. They were scheduled to take on New Zealand’s Otago in the tournament opener.

The government’s decision to not grant visas to the Pakistani team to participate in the limited-overs cricket tournament has come in the backdrop of recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LOC) creating tension between the two countries.

“As a matter of abundance precaution and caution in terms of safety and security, the government did not give green signal for the cricket team’s visit,” government sources were quoted as saying.

The Faisalabad team’s participation in the CLT20 was confirmed until the LoC issues arose.

Last year, the BCCI had invited Pakistan to send their domestic T20 champions — Sialkot Stallions —for the Champions League which was held in South Africa. The Sialkot Stallions, however, failed to qualify for the main round.

This year Faisalabad Wolves, by virtue of emerging as the national T20 champions, had earned the honour of representing Pakistan in the Champions League.