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Faisalabad Wolves, Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 champions, are
optimistic of taking part in the Champions League though they have not
yet been issued with visas for India. They have been training and
focusing on their cricket, team officials said, in preparation for the
tournament.
Faisalabad play their first match on September 17 in Mohali, and they
called off their last practice session scheduled for Thursday evening in
the expectation that they would be issued their visas and would need
time to pack.
However, there was no official indication either way from the Indian
government or the BCCI on whether the visas would be granted. The PCB
also told ESPNcricinfo that the visas had neither been issued nor
denied.
"The players have been training assuming that they are going to depart
as planned," Haroon Rasheed, the Faisalabad team manager, told
ESPNcricinfo. "There may be some uncertainty but the players are asked
to just focus on cricket and nothing else. We have completed our
conditioning camp and the players have dispersed to do their packing and
get ready by tonight."
If they get their visas, Faisalabad will be only the second Pakistan
team to take part in the Champions League and the first in India -
Sialkot Stallions competed in the 2012 tournament in South Africa.
The mood within the camp was one of hope and excitement. "For us who
haven't played at the national level it is a mega event," one player
said. "It will boost our careers. We are obviously down but are hopeful.
It would be really unfair for us to be denied at the last hour. If they
did not want to allow us they should have denied earlier instead of
taking so long."
The players are scheduled to depart in two batches; those in Lahore are
due to leave on Saturday while three players in the Pakistan national
team - Misbah ul Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Ehsan Adil - are due to fly from
Zimbabwe on the completion of the current series. The last day of the
ongoing second Test in Harare is on Saturday.
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent. He tweets here
Feeds: Umar Farooq
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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