Pak players missed the bus, auction their only hope: Modi

BRINGING THE HAMMER DOWN: Lalit Modi, the Indian Premier League commissioner, has said the only way for Pakistani players to enter IPL III would be to make themselves for the auction. File Photo: Vivek Bendre

Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Thursday said the Pakistani cricketers have missed the deadline for the third IPL and the only way they can be part of the Twenty20 tournament is through the January 19 auction.

Mr. Modi said the Pakistani cricketers missed the bus by failing to get visas by the December 7 deadline and the IPL franchises have already replaced them with fresh recruits.

In such a scenario, the Pakistani cricketers could hope to be part of the event only through the next round of players auction scheduled on January 19.

“On Wednesday all the teams were required to do the replacement strategy and the replacement was allowed for those players who are not going to be part of the squad.

“Unfortunately the teams have already signed their replacements. Kolkata Knight Riders have already replaced Umar Gul with Charl Langeveldt, Misbah-ul-Haq (of Royal Challengers Bangalore) has been replaced by Roelof van der Merwe and there have been replacements in the Rajasthan Royals also. These replacement contracts have already been placed and cannot be reversed,” Mr. Modi said.

The only ray of hope for the Pakistani players, Mr. Modi said, was to come through the next auction.

“There is an option coming up on January 19. If there are spots open, they can then apply for the auction now.

Because you have to go through the process, now the process for applying for auction is by January 1,” he said.