By IANS,
Karachi : Former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who was at the helm of Lahore Badshahs – the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) champions this season – has said that he and his charges are anxiously awaiting a word on their future in the league.
Pakistan’s ICL players were forced to rush home from India in the wake of last month’s terror attacks in Mumbai. The incident has once again strained India-Pakistan relations and it remains to be seen whether Pakistan’s ICL players will be allowed to feature in the next season.
A key ICL representative in Pakistan, Moin said the lure of the breakaway league will diminish if Lahore Badshahs are not featured in it.
“ICL has developed into a big league with cricketers coming and playing in it from around the world,” he said. “But still, if you take Lahore Badshahs out of the equation, it would affect the following of the league as a lot of fans in India come to watch us,” he added.
Lahore Badshahs, led by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, defeated Hyderabad Heroes in Ahmedabad last month to win the ICL title. The Badshahs include several Test cricketers from Pakistan – among them the country’s premier batsman Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Rana Naved-ul-Hassan and Mohammad Sami.
Moin, meanwhile, laughed off a report suggesting that he has put the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in an uneasy situation by turning up as coach of a domestic team in the country’s premier domestic event – the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
“The person who wrote that report must have been a newcomer,” said Moin. “I’ve been coaching my team (PIA) for a long time and also turned up as its coach last season. Nobody has any objections over it,” he said.
The PCB has banned all the cricketers associated with the ICL but has no such policy for the officials connected to the league.