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Mumbai: The Indian Premier League (IPL) team Knight Riders will now have to shelve plans to get Pakistani bowling great Wasim Akram on board as bowling consultant for IPL-3.
According to BCCI sources, the board, the IPL's governing council and franchisees have been asked to restrain from hiring/recruiting players/officials/coaches from Pakistan, till further orders from the home ministry.
Post 26/11, the home ministry had clearly told BCCI that no Pakistani player would be allowed to play in India. According to sources, as the ongoing differences between India and Pakistan are yet to be settled at the diplomatic level, the board does not want any IPL team to sign new players or coaches.
This also means that the hopes of Pakistani players - who are now World T20 champions - to get to play in IPL-3 or get fee hikes will not become a reality, at least for now.
The Knights are in search of a coach to replace Australian John Buchanan and Akram's name had been doing the rounds alongside Richard Pybus, Dermott Reeve and Sandeep Patil. Akram's name will no more remain in contention.
Except for Team Chennai, Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians, the other five IPL teams had recruited Pakistan players in the first year. A few cricketers had cancelled their contracts while a few had asked the franchisees to keep them on hold.
