CLT20 set to have team from Pakistan

Sialkot Stallions could become the first Pakistan side to
 play in the Champions League © Shakir Khilji

The Champions League Twenty20 is set to have a team from Pakistan for the first time. The BCCI, the league's largest stakeholder, has said it would inform the tournament's governing council ahead of its May 28 meeting that it had no objection to the participation of a team from Pakistan.

The decision was taken at the BCCI's working committee meeting in Chennai today, where it was also decided to distribute approx $13m to ex-Indian players, set up a BCCI anti-corruption unit, and set up matches between IPL teams and Associate/Affiliate countries.

BCCI president N Srinivasan said the CLT20 governing council had already decided to invite a Pakistani team for the next tournament, to be held in India in October; the BCCI was now concurring with that decision. "The CLT20 is owned by the BCCI, Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa, so we will recommend to the governing council that the BCCI has no objection and is prepared to invite a Pakistan team," he said.

The news was welcomed by the PCB, which saw it as the first step towards restoring cricketing ties with India. The PCB had been pushing for the inclusion of sides from Pakistan, the only major Test-playing nation to not have teams in either the qualifiers or the main round of the tournament since it got off the ground in 2009. Pakistan were among the countries included in the first tournament, in 2008, but that event was cancelled after the Mumbai terrorist attacks and Pakistani teams had been kept out of subsequent tournaments.
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