The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) invited Pakistan’s Sialkot Stallions on Saturday to play in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India.
The BCCI, which met in Chennai on Saturday, gave the go ahead to Pakistan’s participation in the tournament which features leading domestic Twenty20 teams from around the world.
“The BCCI has decided to invite a team from Pakistan to play in the Champions League to be held in India in October,” BCCI chief Narayanaswami Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting.
The BCCI's recommendation will be forwarded to the governing council of the Champions League which is owned by the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa, Srinivasan added.
India and Pakistan met in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh in March and the World Cup semi-final in India last year, but regular tours have been frozen since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
India postponed a tour to Pakistan scheduled for January 2009 in the wake of the Mumbai carnage, which left 166 people dead and many hundreds injured.
The latest move by the BCCI comes a month after Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was on a private visit to New Delhi, urged Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to consider reviving cricket ties.
Srinivasan, asked if this was the first step towards reviving relations with Pakistan, said: “Today, the decision is limited to the Champions League. I don't want to say anything beyond it.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed told Express News that the move will help in reviving bilateral cricket ties between the two nations. “The league is scheduled for October in India. We have talked to them about this on the phone, but we are still waiting for a written confirmation.”
Ahmed, terming the invitation as a “positive development”, said that the BCCI and PCB have been holding talks since three to four months regarding this trip and had exchanged several proposals as well.
The Sialkot Stallions team will play in India under the captaincy of Shoaib Malik and will retain the same team which played domestic matches. Malik has remained impressive in the domestic season where he led Sialkot Stallions to two Twenty20 titles – the National Twenty20 and the Super Eight T20 Cup.
COMMENTS (46)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
there is no doubt about that indian crowd more crazy to see and watch pakistani players we thanks to bcci they did gud job and stallions will be champions in upcoming big season i remind to indians in pakistan 1st t20 cup win faislabad woves in 2005 and few months later icc organized world t20 champions and wolves was the champions......in england 2005-2006
thank BCCI..............
this is good thinking from BCCI
Thank you india
@Sanjay, Mumbai: As I said, your disguise is too evident!! Politics will never be mixed with cricket until religion comes into play-the tragedy and misery of Pakistan. The very reason for current troubles.And yes the statement foreign players played better says too much about who your are. Try something else. Just some sense buddy.
@Pk_paris: You don't want to allow Pakistan cricket team but allowing Pakistan to exhibit/showcase products in your country, why?
@Abbas ZA: Cant blame you much for your continuous one dimensional comments. Some people just don't get it. It's not completely their fault, it's the mind (narrow), it's the Visio (tunneled). We can however wish them well.
@Abbas ZA:
Just like I said before, go take history lessons, if it gives you pleasure to drag politics, religion and your primitive view points to sports then suite yourself and, keep whining and stay miserable. I guess SOME people just don't get it, the box is too rigid and the mind is too narrow. Let me repeat and remind, this news relates to cricket and let's leave it to that.
@zayeph: Wow what a great idea. Champions League and India will billions of dollars !! And then India will go bankrupt wow wow, amazing idea and only then PAKISTAN, the country of great warriors, country of great inventors, the country of so many things will gain it's self-respect back !! wow wow amazing idea !! O tussi great O ji !!
@Abbas ZA: Its too naive to paint sportpersons by giving example of bad apple. Statistics of IPL 5 shows how foriegn Players hv outperformed our local boys. Can any one deny Pak cricket Ers are not talented? Lets not mix politics with cricket.
We have respect for the common Pakistani and their cricketers, minus the big mouth Afridi and ungrateful Sohail Tanveer. However, this is not just about sport. It's about history, culture etc..Like it or not, we are fundamentally different people..who are fighting a thousand year war, just as Bhutto wanted..No point in 'fostering' cricketing ties when there is a war raging in the borders..There was firing in the Poonch sector from the Pakistani side, even as this invite went out from BCCI.. I am disappointed and am sure that so are most of my countrymen..BCCI...BAD DECISION..Remember, India is a democracy..You have just ignored the emotions of the common Indian..That's sacrilege!!
Peace from an Indian.
@Syad: By the way -ON what basis was Pakistan formed ? and WHAT is it doing to muslims DAILY-shias, ahmadis....it is better not to open mouth or pen some issues at times if you have some idea of reality. Another example of extraordinary hypocrisy!!!
@Sanjay, Mumbai: Talented Pakistani cricketers like Asif who go released from jail. Good one but too evident even in disguise
@Syad: It is insane to say that politics should left alone from cricket. What a pathetic hypocrisy when you have national cricket captains (Afridi et al.) who do not have iota of decency to keep religion out of sport and society. When you destroy the peace in the name of religion-who has given you the right to ask that politics be kept out of cricket??? Add to the willful dementia to the attack on Srilankan Cricketers and audacity to blame the entire world for your woes.
IPL, even though on surface appears to be pvt venture, but is being executed under BCCI, which is governing body for official Cricket team of India. Its high time BCCI shed the blinkers and takes independent decision free from govt interference. Latest IPL season has demonstrated how local cricketers have poorly performed compared to foreign players. It would be a good learning lessons for our local cricketers from talented Pakistani players. Time to grow and move on...!! Invitation to the T20 team from Pakistan to participate in CL in India is first step towards 100% restoration of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. Well Done BCCI..keep it up.
@Abbas ZA: By what count? Have you done or read some study? We are not talking politics here, you may need to take history lessons to find out on what basis Pakistan was made. Having said that it doesn't mean we don't have issues, who doesn't. You can have your opinions but should have some merits. No point shooting from the hips. Better off to leave these discussions to Cricket like the title of this news suggests.
@Syad: That number of narrow minded is more in Pakistan otherwise it would been a secular democracy not a islamic republic. After mumbai, I do not think Pakistanis are welcome in India by most of its public- whether BCCI says yes or no.Afterall mumbai massacre was live show on TV.
@zayeph: That's your choice!
Viva! let cricket and friendly ties rule the sea, ground and air waves. Salams
PCB should send some officials for security checking and than cancel the trip saying security is to week... sorry we ain't coming India,
good move...and iam extremely happy to know sialkot stallions wud be playing here...my family origin is from sialkot and they came over to india after partition...there is no doubt that after my home city, delhi(which looks likely to qualify for clt20), i wud be supporting the stallions!
This seems like a challenge to the self respecting Pakistanis.
Let's see how self-respecting Pakistanis are. What India has done, is basically take away the bread from Pak cricketer's hand and given them biscuits.
If I were a self respecting person, I would say NO.
I want to see the reaction of DPC on this. Let them protest against sending the team to India.
@Southasian: "An eye for eye will leave the whole world blind. Both sides have grievances and they are legitimate as well."
Sorry. You cannot compae Pakistan's revisionist policy to India's. There is no comparison between India's legitimate grievances to Pakistan's made up ones.
This does not mean that cricket should be stopped. If trade can happen, why not cricket.
Just look at the comments by Indians...Show their true mentality & how much they welcome us.. Remember: PAKISTAN was supposed to arrange PPL in October & this is another stunt by India they could even cancel it on last time by giving any lame excuse..! & as far as the decision is concerned I would say it was CLT20 which required Pakistani team & not the Pakistan..!!
They should politely refuse.
The more we sweat in "cricket" the less we bleed in "hatrad".
An eye for eye will leave the whole world blind. Both sides have grievances and they are legitimate as well. Game of cricket got great healing power so please permit some space for Love in hearts filled with hatred. " Ishwar allah tere jahan main nafrat kyu hai jang hai kyu, Tera dil to itna bada hai, insan ka dil tang hai kyu ?
I think we shouldn't send our team to india ,,,we should refuse them
To all our narrow minded Indian friends here who do not seem to find an Indian site, welcome but it's high time you start thinking out of the box, and stop beating the same old drums of hatred......
abs "....PCB must say no in protest of Pakistan players being ignore for IPL or require fees to be paid ..." IPL is a "privately" owned cricket league, if they dont want to hire pakistanis is up to them and also a sound decision. I wish the Indian government doesnt give visas to the sialkot stallion players as long as Hafeez saeed, LeT/JuD are openly hanging around with pakistatni state protection.
@abs: If they want to cancel, they wouldn't invite them in the first place - this is an international tournament that requires considerable planning, and one team less can throw the entire show out of whack. The reason that they are extending the invite is simple - a nation of 180 mn people counts for a lot of eyeballs, and the TV rights form a large part of the profitability calculation for such a tournament. On a separate note, even if your crazies manage to pull off yet another terrorist act in the next couple of months, I don't see the Sialkot Stallions being saddled (pun intended) with the blame.
BCCI stamp is enough for SS to play in CL..sign off from Australia & SA is mere formality!
No need to send the team.
Hafeez saeed needs to be brought to justice. Till then let there be status quo
shameful act by BCCI...
They will 90% cancel it at the last moment for one reason or the other. PCB must say no in protest of Pakistan players being ignore for IPL or require fees to be paid if participation canceled at the last moment. That is not anti India but some thing practical which we have faced in recent past. There are pple on both sides who do not want improvement in relations and they would make it sure again.
If it was the other way round all Pakistan would have come out on street against india
Pakistan's dying wish has come true.
Why o why. Has India forgotten that Pakistan survives on Indian blood. No other country feeds the mosquito that bites it. Disgraceful move. Will be welcomed only by pakistanis.
Stallions are by far the best T20 domestic team we have and they have proved it over a number of years. They have earned their right to represent Pakistan so good luck to them!
it is positive sign from india. it will help to made good relation b/w them.
Pakistan in CL is good news and it be more fun to watch. But only when venue is outside India. if league is in India, we do not want see Pakistan team in India unless perpetrator of Mumbai attacks are brought to justice and some action is taken on thugs of DPC when they spit venom against India
Its a great news. Cricket is the way forward for both nations.