India to examine situation before allowing Pakistan team

New Delhi: India will "carefully examine" the situation before taking a decision on whether to allow a Pakistani cricket team to take part in the qualifying round of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament scheduled to begin from September 17.

The rising tension at the Line of Control (LOC) has left the Pakistan Cricket Board worried about the participation of its team Faisalabad Wolves in the in the cash-rich event to be held at various venues in India. "We have been approached by a cricket team from Pakistan to participate in the Champions Leage Twenty20 event", spokesperson in the MEA said today. "It does not start for a month. We will carefully examine before we take a decision in this regard", the spokesperson said. A senior PCB official had earlier said they would start the procedure for obtaining visas for the Faisalabad team after the Eid holidays. The official said PCB will keep in touch with the Indian Cricket Board and were hopeful that there would be no problems in the team getting visas. The team`s participation in the tournament was thrown into jeopardy after Pakistani troops entered Indian territory along the Line of Control in the Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 and ambushed a patrol killing five Indian soldiers, leading to rise in tension at the LOC. The Faisalabad team is led by Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq who is expected to directly fly to India from Zimbabwe to join the team. Last year, the BCCI had allowed Pakistan to send their champion Twenty20 team to the Champions League qualifying rounds. PTI