Pakistan players will have to go through the auction process if they are to play in the Indian Premier League next season, despite belatedly securing clearance from both governments to participate in 2010. Four players had received visas from the Indian government Thursday. They are believed to be Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal and Sohail Tanvir - all of whom had IPL contracts which had been suspended when Pakistan players were banned from the 2009 event following the Mumbai terrorist attacks. However, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said Thursday that the players must go to auction on Jan. 19 because they had all subsequently been replaced on the rosters of their respective franchises and the original visa deadline of Dec. 7 had been missed. Prospective players are put up for open auction of annual salary among the bidding franchises. Bangalore Royal Challengers had secured South Africa's Roelof van der Merwe in place of Misbah. South African fast bowler Charl Langeveldt has replaced Gul at Kolkata Knight Riders while Rajhastan Royals had bought in Johan Botha in place of Akmal and Tanvir. The Pakistan Cricket Board had hoped for a further extension of the visa deadline - already twice put back - but Modi said another delay would have hampered franchises' planning for the next season, which begins in March 2010. In the inaugural IPL season of 2008, 11 Pakistan players took part, but they were banned from the 2009 competition after Mumbai, even when the competition was moved to South Africa. Pakistan won the Twenty20 World Cup this year, and would ordinarily be in high demand but relations between the neighboring countries remains strained.
