KARACHI, Oct 4: The national selectors will have to get an approval from the Sports Ministry on the final Pakistan squad for the forthcoming Twenty20 tournament in Toronto, it was announced by the ministry on Saturday.

Sports Minister Najamuddin Khan said that since the Ministry was now supervising and monitoring the cricket affairs, the team picked by the selectors had to be approved by him.

The ministry has taken control of the Pakistan Cricket Board affairs since the resignation of its chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf in August. The selectors are due to announce a 15-member squad for the four-nation tournament in Toronto, scheduled to be played from Oct 10.

Najamuddin said people who felt he was not competent enough to represent Pakistan at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Executive Board meeting on Oct 14 should think again. “I have represented Pakistan at more important forums and I have been doing my homework for this important cricket meeting,” he said.

The Sports Minister will attend the ICC meeting which will discuss the new dates for the Champions Trophy which was postponed due to security concerns expressed by some teams.

“I would like to take along former captain Imran Khan, our federal law minister and board officals Shafqat Naghmi and Zakir Khan to assist me. But I guess we have to first seek clearance from the ICC for this,” he said.—Agencies