The participation of Lahore Lions, the Pakistan’s local T20 team is likely to be out of the Champions League 2014. The tension at the border and political disputes between India and Pakistan might well push the Pakistan’s team out the CLT20 before it starts.
Lahore Lions are one of the four teams which will play from the qualifier stage of the tournament. The CLT20 is just round the corner and it seems difficult for the BCCI to get permission for Lahore Lion’s participation. BCCI is trying to get the permission from the ministry about 3 weeks ago without any success. They haven’t received any reply.
A top board official while talking to Mumbai Mirror said “We know what is happening. The scheduled tasks were called off and the situation is tense at the border. In such a charged-up atmosphere, how can we go to the government again”
The other three teams to play the qualifiers are Mumbai Indians (India), Northern Knights (NZ), Southern Express (SL). With such a short time left in hand, it is really difficult for the BCCI to add other team for the replacement. Instead of that, the BCCI will think to reschedule the qualifiers with just 3 teams out of which 2 teams will go and play in the main draw. The qualifiers will start from Sept 13 and on Sept 16, we will have our 2 qualifiers.
In spite of all this, the Lahore Lions are expecting that the BCCI will clear the issue soon.
They are quite confident, as their recent tweets also suggest the same.
The conformation of whether Lahore Lions will play or not is still yet to come.
The captain of Lahore Lions, Mohammad Hafeez has neither interacted with the media nor he has put his views on social media regarding the issue. Only time will tell us whether Lahore Lions will play or not.
