Pakistan players want to play in IPL

The Pakistan Cricket Board has said it would contact its Indian counterparts and seek advice from its government on the status of the national players' chances of playing in the Indian Premier League which will now be staged in South Africa or England.

PCB chairman Ejaz Butt said there are lot of issues to be cleared up regarding the participation of Pakistani players in the IPL which was shifted out of India on Sunday as it clashed with the Lok Sabha elections.

"I will be talking to the Indian board President and also our government. I am sure some of the players would now like to play in the IPL if possible," Butt said.

The Pakistan government had stopped its players from going to India for the IPL due to security issues and also because of diplomatic relations taking a nosedive after the Mumbai attacks in November.

Butt said he is not in a position to say if the government would reconsider its stance on allowing players to appear in the IPL now.

"But if some players are interested in playing in the IPL and if their commitments don't clash with our national team commitments I will talk to the relevant authorities," Butt said.

The former Test player described the shifting of the IPL from India as unfortunate and said security issues and fears are playing havoc with cricket in the region.

Pakistan has suffered the most because of the security situation in the country in the last few years with chances of international teams now touring the country dim after the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore this month by suspected militants.

Butt said Asian countries needed to stick together to ensure security issues didn't hamper the organisation of international matches and progress of the sport.

Former Test captain Zaheer Abbas said he is disappointed by the decision to shift the IPL from India.

"It is a bad omen for cricket in Asia and it will now create doubts over the organisation of the 2011 World Cup matches in the region," he said.

Abbas said the shifting of the IPL will send wrong signals to the rest of the world.

"Pakistan has suffered the most of these security problems and I think the Asian cricket nations must sit together and devise a joint strategy through which they can convince other teams cricket must go on in the region," he said.