After much toing and froing, including reports on Thursday that the Faislabad Wolves, Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 champions, had been denied visas for the qualifying round of the 2013 Champions League, the decks were cleared on Friday for Misbah-ul Haq’s team to play in India.
Reports on the day from Islamabad said that the Wolves had been granted visas for the qualifiers that will be played at Mohali from September 17 to 20. Four teams — the Wolves, Otago Volts (New Zealand), Kandurata Maroons (Sri Lanka) and Sunrisers Hyderabad — will contest for the two spots available in the main draw of the tournament.
The two will join eight others, three from India, two from South Africa, two from Australia and one from the West Indies in the main draw of the Champions League.
The tournament proper gets under way with the opening game between the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians at Jaipur on September 21. The final is slated for October 6 at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla.
Wire agencies said that the uncertainty over the Pakistani team’s visit ended with the Indian High Commission in Islamabad issuing the necessary travel documents, even though team members — who had been practising at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore — had been asked to disperse the previous day.
The Wolves will fly into the country in two batches, the main group coming in from Lahore and those currently on national duty in the Test series in Zimbabwe — Misbah, Saeed Ajmal and Ehsan Adil — flying out after the ongoing second Test ends in Harare on Saturday.
AFP adds: Team manager Haroon Rasheed welcomed the clearing of the team.
“This is a positive sign,” Rasheed said. “I think it will be the first step towards reviving Indo-Pak cricket which is so cruelly suspended.”
New Delhi stalled all bilateral cricket with Pakistan after Islamist gunmen attacked Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people in an assault blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Pakistanis featured in the inaugural Indian Premier League in 2008, before the attacks, but the Sialkot Stallions were the only Pakistanis to feature in the Champions League last year, as the event was held in South Africa.
Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed is in India to attend the Asian Cricket Council meeting in Chennai on Saturday and is expected to talk to his Indian counterparts about reviving ties.
Rasheed said, however, that all players were excited. “All the players are very excited and we have no fears as the focus will only be on cricket,” said Rasheed, who played 23 Tests and 12 one-days for Pakistan.
On his team’s chances, Rasheed said they are determined to reach the main rounds.
“We will do our best to reach the main rounds,” said Rasheed.