Pakistan Cricket Board will send its greenhorn pacers to the MRF Pace Foundation in India only to acquire world class skills under Australian great Dennis Lillee.
The plan to send young fast bowlers to train at the academy would be limited to the period former Australian pace-bowling legend Lillee remains present there to supervise their training.
"Our information is that Lillee is available from June 26 to July 5 at the academy. We plan to send our bowlers to the academy during this period only," a senior PCB official was quoted as saying by The News on Saturday.
The PCB has recently confirmed that it intended to send three pace bowlers -- Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Irshad and Najaf Shah -- to train at the academy, where Lillee also makes regular visits to coach the bowlers.
Academy's chief coach T A Sekar, however, said nothing had been discussed formally as yet. They have opted for India because it was financially more viable for them, he said.
"Besides, (PCB chairman) Shaharyar Khan had read about us in the papers while on the 2005 tour, and he's seen how our products -- Zaheer Khan and Laxmipathy Balaji -- have shaped up in the past few years. This must have encouraged their board to contact us," he added.
"They (PCB) have intimated us that they want to send their young bowlers to train with us but so far nothing is final," he said.
